NO fewer than 200 ex-agitators from Niger Delta have pledged not to go back to the creeks to engage in pipeline vandalism following their training in various trades in Nnewi, Anambra State.

They made the pledge during the nine-month youths’ training organised by Federal Government-backed Amnesty Programme in collaboration with Innoson Kiara Academy, Nnewi.

The training package was in auto engineering works, auto-painting, auto-welding and fabrication works, auto-electrical and electronic works.

Endi Ezengwa, chief executive officer, Innoson Kiara Academy, said the academy in partnership with the federal government had trained not less than 600 ex-agitators since three years of its commencement.

He said the trainees had undergone examination by National Business and Technical Education Board, NABTEB, to give the exercise national credibility.

Ezengwa explained that the peculiarity of the training environment provided the trainees with skills and entrepreneurial spirit to compete favourably with their contemporaries.

He re-assured them of federal government’s assistance in their establishment, promising to canvass for federal and state governments’ patronage to ensure steady market-relevance for them.

One of the trainees, Abraham Peter, thanked the government for keeping to its promises of equipping them with skills.

He, however, called for fulfilment of the promises by empowering them financially, so that they would no longer contemplate going back to the creeks to engage in vandalism.

“Training someone with skills without corresponding empowerment is like throwing a stone into a river.

“The skills we have acquired will only be useful if the government empowers us financially,’’ he said.

Another beneficiary, Gbalubi David said the training would not only enable him to start his own business, but also train other unemployed youths.

He advocated for extension of the training period, saying the nine months duration was inadequate in view of the volume of the training packages.

– Sept. 20, 2018 @ 14:10 GMT |