The Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs has trained 58 women and youths in the Niger Delta in fishery and poultry and disbursed N300,000 worth of starter packs to each beneficiary.
This was in line of the Federal Government’s policy on youth employment and women empowerment in the region.
Mr Stephen Kilebi, Deputy Director of Press and Public Relations of the Ministry, in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja, indicated that the Minister, Mr Usani Usani, said the gesture would reduce youth restiveness and create jobs.
Usani charged the beneficiaries, who are from Bakassi and Odukpani Local Government Areas of Cross River to make themselves self reliant with the empowerment.
Represented by the Director of Economic Empowerment, Mr Ibrahim Akanya, Usani urged the beneficiaries to establish businesses from the training received in fishery, poultry and other value added chain of production like marketing.
He also advised them to complement the stipend given to them with the skills they had acquired.
“If they develop the skills further, they move to a very high level.
“Some trainees, who in the past were serious and developed themselves are now consultants and are engaged as resource persons in some of the ministry’s empowerment programmes,” Usani said.
The trainees commended the Ministry and the Federal Government for putting up the training programme for the benefits of the youths of the region.
One of the participants, Elder Edet Okon, said they would put to good use what they had acquired, and make good use of the resources given to them.
Okon also appealed to the Ministry to sustain the empowerment programme as it would help the youths more than any other group in the society.
He, however, called for an upward review of the amount for the starter pack in subsequent training programmes. ====NAN
