June 14, (THEWILL) – Trainees of the 3000 project of Akwa Ibom State Government, who are alleged to have been abandoned after tasking and fortune sapping training, have threatened to stage a protest.
THEWILL recalls that the state government, through the Ministry of Trade and investment, had in the year 2021 commenced a training of 3,000 youths in a scheme meant to identify, train, mentor, empower and build capacity of existing Small and Medium Enterprises, (SMEs) and startups across the 31 local government areas of the state.
The scheme, was meant to run in three phases with each phase having 1,000 trainees, who would focus on three areas of choice including: oil and gas, agrobusiness, ICT and SMEs, to enable them secure gainful employment.
However, the beneficiaries of the project who have successfully concluded their trainings since April 2021, have expressed worry that they have neither gotten the certification nor startups, as promised by the government after one year of completing the exercise.
THEWILL gathered that the graduation ceremony proposed for the trainees was stalled, following the resignation of the then commissioner, Prince Ukopong Akpabio, in pursuit of his political ambition.
A trainee simply identified as Mfon, who narrated their ordeal to THEWILL correspondent, said that after the exit of Prince Akpabio, the new Commissioner, Engr. Camillus Essien Umoh, invited them to the state secretariat for a graduation ceremony, but later dismissed them promising to fix another date for the exercise as he was very new in office.
Mfon, who lamented that nothing has been done yet, urged the state government to fulfill its promise by giving them the start ups, so as to put what they learnt into practice, to be self reliant, adding that the knowledge and skills acquired are wasting away.
Another trainee, who did not want her name in prints for security reasons, regretted that despite the stress they passed through and the monies spent on transportation from her local government, Ikono to the State secretariat in Uyo, which was their rallying point, she is yet to receive the startups promised by the government.
“The stress was simply too much. We would go to the Ministry and the buses they made available will convey members to different designated training centres around the local government.
“By 4:00pm, they will convey you back to the secretariat, where you go back to your destination. It was not easy for some people from far distance, to transport themselves to the state secretariat, some people from Ini, interior parts of Ibeno really suffered, because they paid their way to Uyo. State Government officials told us that at the end of the training they will empower us, but nothing is being done”, she narrated.
Also, another trainee, Identified as Joseph, disclosed that they felt abandoned by the state government, noting that plans are underway by the trainees who feel frustrated, to embark on a protest.
“Upon all the promises by the state government to us during the training, nothing has been done, no empowerment, nothing, and they will be telling us come today, come tomorrow. We are planning a day to go out on protest, because we are not happy at all”, he said.
However, a source in the Ministry of Trade and Investment, who also pleaded anonymity, explained that the graduation ceremony would have taken place in April, but was stalled following the resignation of then commissioner, Prince Akpabio, to contest for the House of Assembly.
He, however, attributed the delay in empowering the trainees to rise in Dollar to Naira exchange rate, adding that the laptops that were supposed to be given to those in ICT was estimated at about N150,000 each, but has risen to N550,000 now, adding that the state government is on top of the situation.
According to the source, “from the market survey we conducted so far, the estimated price for laptops have gone up. Another memo has been sent to the governor on the variation, so that the Items can be purchased.
“They should be more patient. If they are given money equivalent, they may lavish the money and that will make no meaning. The graduation ceremony would be done to all the batches at the same time”, he concluded.
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