… 650 Trainers to Get Stipends
By Jude Michael
About 8, 000 youths in Anambra State have been slated to benefit from a youth empowerment programme of Anambra Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo which has been flagged off.
Under the scheme 8, 000 youths will be trained in various skills, regardless of where they come, from as long as they reside in Anambra State; while they will be expected to train others thereafter. The scheme is aimed at getting the youths out of crime.
In addition, 620 business owners in the state, who have undergone training, and who will serve as master trainers, will receive stipends for business expansion to accommodate the trainees.
The Commissioner for Youth Development, Mr Patrick Agha Mba, stated this in a session with media executives in his office last Tuesday in Awka.
Aghamba said the Governor recently flagged off the scheme, which, he disclosed, was the second phase of the exercise after the one conducted in 2023.
He said the training had various phases and would last for eight months, and that the trainees would be entitled to stipends within the period of the training, while adding that 620 training centers had been established in every part of the state.
He said: ‘The age range of the training is from 18 to 45 years. It does not matter if you are from Anambra or not, so long as you reside here in Anambra.
‘The idea is that even if you’re not from Anambra but you reside here, if we take you out of the streets and empower you with skills, the tendency is that you will not be a problem to society, and the rate of crime in the state will reduce.
‘Our hope is that we want to use this to reduce the crime rate in the state. The training will commence soon. It is called one youth, two skills programme.
‘Phase A is for courses that will take four months and phase B is for courses that will take six months. It is a vocational training and the last phase is entrepreneurship, which is for one month. We will also use one month to do capturing. So the project timeline is eight months.’
Speaking on some of the skills that would be learnt, Aghamba listed them as furniture, metal fabrication, aluminum fabrication, CCTV installation, confectionary, leather works, among others.
He said in Agriculture the programme would feature livestock, piggery, poultry, fishery, and cassava processing, among others.
‘In all we have 42 skills for this programme. We will deploy 8,000 of our youths and will support 620 businesses for business expansion for their businesses to accommodate the trainees we are sending to them,’ the Commissioner said.
