ASOPADEC To Train 2,500 Abia Youths

Youths No fewer than 2,500 Abia youths will benefit from the N800 million micro-credit facility skills acquisition training in the state.

A Commissioner in the Abia State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (ASOPADEC), Chief George Nnanna-Kalu, made this known in Umuahia recently.

Nnanna-Kalu, who addressed a hundreds of the prospective trainees at the commission’s headquarters, said that the benefits derivable from the skill acquisition training were many.

He said that the micro credit was provided by the commission in conjunction with the National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND).

He explained that the state would pay a counterpart fund of N400 million, while the remaining N400 million would be provided by NERFUND.

“If we can get our N400 million, NERFUND will bring its N400 million then we will have N800 million available for the micro-credit facility,’’ he said.

He said that the New Partnership Africa’s Development, the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) were participating in the training.

He said that the youths would be trained in 18 different skills and they would be organised in groups of 11 persons for registration into 200 cooperative societies, through which the loans would be disbursed.

“This will be repayable in two or three years and will be revolving for those that will still be trained under the programme. ’’

Nnanna-Kalu said that the training, which would cover production and manufacturing in agro and other sectors, would be conducted by SMEDAN and NDE.

He said that the training would gulp about N50 million, while the registration for cooperative societies would take N3.4 million.

He explained that the commission would sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the other agencies involved in the programme before its commencement.

Nnanna-Kalu said that there would a sensitisation of the youths in the three senatorial districts in the state before the launching by Gov. Theodore Orji.

He explained that the first phase of the training by SMEDAN would last for three weeks and that the NDE training would last for three months.

Another commissioner in ASOPADEC, Chief Emeka Stanley, told newsmen that the programme would empower the youths and make them self-reliant.

Stanley urged the youths to “key into the programme and disabuse their minds from negative tendencies and channel their energies into productive ventures.’’

In their reaction, some of the beneficiaries expressed satisfaction with the programme, saying that they preferred it to the monthly stipend of N10, 000 previously given to them by the commission.

Messrs Chukwuemeka Nwaubani and Chidebe Achilefu said that they were interested in poultry, adding that the programme would help them to actualise the project.

Achilefu, however, advised that the laudable programme should not be hijacked by politicians.

“When the forms were distributed sometime ago, the politicians and so-called stakeholders in the local government councils hijacked them and gave them to their children and relations.

“I hope that the commission will guard against the hijacking of the programme so that only those who were trained in different skills will benefit from the facility,’’ he said.