By Mike Ebonugwo

Recently the success of the Federal Government’s amnesty programme was called to question when some ex-militants practically took the laws into their hands while protesting their alleged exclusion from the programme. The protesting former militants had barricaded the Mbiama bridge on the busy East-West road, a development that left most commuters plying that road stranded for several hours.

The action of the ex-militants came to many observers as a surprise based on the assumption that the amnesty programme which was conceived during the late President Umaru Yar’Adua-led Federal Government was fully implemented to accommodate all identified militants. Indeed those who jumped to this conclusion could not have been deemed wrong in the light of the number of militants who turned in their arms and submitted themselves for monetary compensation and rehabilitation.

But there are those who hold the view that money-for-arms alone cannot guarantee the success of the amnesty programme, saying that as part of the rehabilitation of the repentant militants and aggrieved youths of the Niger Delta, they must also be trained to become gainfully employed. The kernel of this argument is that once the youths are trained and economically empowered to fend for themselves they will not take to militancy on the common excuse of marginalisation.

This is a view shared by the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Mr. Chibuzor Ugwoha who has on several occasions canvassed the position that government alone cannot solve the problem of youth restiveness in the Niger Delta, while stressing the imperative and resolve of the NDDC under his leadership to play a key role in assisting government in the area of human capital development.

A cross section of Niger Delta youths during the programme.

In fact, this has been the cornerstone of the NDDC’s intervention efforts since his assumption of office. For instance, during a one-day workshop last year titled, “The Niger Delta Youths: Beyond the Amnesty”, he had asked thus: “Having taken guns from the hands of the militants, what can we put back in their hands and even in the hands of potential militants?” The question was somehow addressed to the 18 resource persons and the  more than 3000 youth activists who attended the programme. But he has also gone ahead to answer the question.

“The amnesty has ushered in peace into the Niger Delta and the country at large, and now that we have some peace, we cannot rest on our oars but must seize the initiative to drive the wheels of sustainable development and growth in the region.

The Niger Delta Development Commission, on its part is taking full advantage of our newly found peace to rev up the engine of rapid development for our people. I can assure you that we are well prepared for the task at hand, as the Niger Delta Regional Development Master Plan has already charted the course for us to follow,” he said.

And under the various programmes conceived for this purpose, the  NDDC is said to have trained a total of 10,252 youths in various skills such as welding and fabrication, computer and information technology, auto-mechanics, electrical installation, GSM repairs, fashion designing, catering and other home management skills. A follow-up to this is  the NDDC Technical Aid Corps(NTAC) which is designed for unemployed graduates as a strategic and innovative step aimed at deploying the teeming unemployed graduates in the region to boost the manpower needs of SMEs, educational institutions and other organisations. When the pilot phase of the NTAC was flagged off it had in attendance over 2000 participants who were recruited on merit throughout the region.

But the Commission, it will appear, was conscious of the fact that the training will count for nothing if these individuals are not financially empowered to start a business of their own. It was this, Vanguard Metro was told, that informed its recent decision to provide the graduands of the NDDC Skills Acquisition Programme with credit facility, a gesture which Mr. Ugwoha said “is based on the understanding that they will form the vanguard of the NDDC’s effort to prop up the development and growth of small and medium enterprises in the region”.

The objectives of the credit scheme, according to him included    creating access to credit facilities for co-operative societies; enhancing economic emancipation  of the people through skills acquisition and empowerment for various trades and ventures; creating business environment and economic culture which will address the absence of entrepreneurial competence among the people; stimulating the creative imagination, talent and curiosity of the youth in the pursuit for development and excellence; promoting self-reliance, thereby eliminating idleness with its attendant vices and enhancing the socio-economic status of the beloved Niger Delta people, among others.

The Commission claims to have already provided 100 percent cash-backed credit guarantee amounting to N500 million for the take off of this scheme in the nine states of the region, with  a total of 1,900 youths benefitting directly  from the scheme during the pilot phase, just as provision was also made in the 2010 budget for the second batch of beneficiaries. It is said that all NDDC skills graduands who have formed themselves into cooperative societies and have met necessary criteria for credit are eligible for this scheme. In this respect Ugwoha assured that “the management of NDDC is totally committed to the success of this programme and is fully backed by the presidency”.

But for the NDDC to fully succeed in this task, he would want the support and cooperation of certain individuals and corporations. “I would like to call on stakeholders, particularly the banks, community leaders, consultants, state offices, and other relevant staff of the Commission to passionately support this initiative which is aimed at providing a window of opportunity for our unemployed and less-privileged. I assure you all that this Commission will continue to create needed opportunities for our people to realise their full potentials in the overall interest of Nigeria.

“Permit me to  also to call on relevant institutions, agencies and development partners, including the Central Bank of Nigeria, the NDE, the MDGs office, as well as non-governmental organisations, to partner with us in the implementation of this programme. I make this call on the strength of our collective desire to create employment, eliminate poverty and social insecurity in the region,” he appealed during the recent flag-off ceremony of the NDDC Credit and Entrepreneurial Development Scheme.