BY EMMA AMAIZE & BULOU KOSIN
WARRI—MINISTER of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, weekend, said contracts for construction of nine skills acquisition centres had been awarded to consolidate Federal Government’s youth capacity-building programmes in the region.

Orubebe said this at the graduation of 40 non-militant youths, trained in oil and gas technology by a consultant, Scotchville Industrial Consortium on behalf of the Niger Delta Ministry at the Petroleum Training Institute, PTI, Effurun.

The minister, who was represented by Mr. Fikpabo Ikibeh, charged the graduands “to apply the knowledge gained to practical use to justify the huge Federal Government investment even as you should preach the gospel of peace in your respective communities.”

Orubebe said the training centres represented government’s response to a survey, which revealed that “a major challenge of the people of the region was that its youths lack skills in the various sectors of the economy.”

A graduand, Miss Gladys Osehake, told Vanguard that she was delighted to receive a laptop to consolidate on the training she received.

The minister added that arrangements were for a micro-financing scheme, so that trainees and cooperative societies could access soft loans to finance their businesses.

Although, 10 sectors had been identified for skills training, Orubebe noted that the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs was “currently training 595 youths in three key sectors of agriculture, maritime and oil & gas to meet critical needs of the region.”
He said 90 youths sent for training in agriculture in Israel and Port Novo in Benin Republic had since returned.
He hailed Scotchville Industrial Consortium, managed by Dr. Ben Irikefe “for keeping faith with the terms of the training contract besides its avowed promise to secure for some of the trainees jobs abroad. He said the Federal Government also planned to place some of the trainees on jobs in the private sector.