Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, Prof. Charles Dokubo, says the programme has empowered 2,187 already trained beneficiaries in the small and medium scale business, while 800 are currently been trained in various vocational skills with a duration of six months.
Dokubo said these beneficiaries are spread across Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Ondo, Edo, Cross River, Abia, and Imo states.
The Amnesty boss disclosed that over 110 vendors and contractors were engaged by the programme office through the execution of business contracts on various businesses, trades, and vocations.
He further stated that plans have reached an advanced stage to fast-track the training and certification of more beneficiaries, as well as exploring job placement opportunities for the beneficiaries.
“In my just over one year in office, PAP has trained over 2,187 delegates in vocational skills. In addition to the above, over 800 other delegates are undergoing various training programmes in about 20 qualified local training partners for a duration of three to six months.
“The vocation includes carpentry, fish farming, commodity shop, building materials, building and construction, fashion designing, hairdressing, catering, timber mill, event management, restaurant and bar, rental service, bead and knitting, creative artwork, foodstuff sale, provision store, electronic materials sale, electrical materials sale,
“Music production, poultry, mini distributorship, block molding, baking and confectionery, tiling and interlocking, ICT and cybercafé, welding and fabrication, film making, cinematography, cassava milling, barbing salon, kerosene sale, auto spare parts, supermarket, auto mechanic and marine transportation, among others.
“The trade areas include aluminum fabrication, oil, and gas power system, abrasive blasting, scaffolding and rigging, mechanical fitting, industrial painting, greenhouse farming, fashion design, leather works, poultry farming, fish farming, installation and maintenance of tricycles as well as ice cold engineering and fabrication.”
Dokubo who is also the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, also said the job placement unit of the Amnesty Office has intensified profiling of qualified beneficiaries for possible jobs, saying that 60 beneficiaries were recently profiled for employment in the nation’s public sector.
He said he has approved the inclusion of 20 trainees from Nigeria Agricultural Enterprise Curriculum, NAEC, as resource persons for Amnesty Programme after approving office set up component of the project for implementation across the nine Niger Delta states.
“Niger Delta is now known for peaceful development because there is no development without security. Amnesty Programme is now into more of training so that our beneficiaries can develop a skill after being trained, and then work.
“We are now focusing on getting jobs for some of those we have trained. That is the last aspect of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, the reintegration phase.”