Right now, Wisdom Chibuzor Wakama is a palpably rapturous gentleman. And indeed, the man from Rivers State has a genuine cause to rejoice. Wakama was one of 300 ex-militants empowered on Thursday, last week, by the Presidential Amnesty Office with tools to kick-start their own businesses after a long life in the creeks.
Wearing a bright mien, the young man enthused that he was already seeing himself as an employer of labour. The Port Harcourt-based young man, who had spent years, living in the harsh waters of the Niger Delta, said he embraced the presidential amnesty programme like thousands of his peers when the programme was initiated by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
Wakama was sent for training in Malaysia where he went through tutelage in pipeline welding for about one year. He’s back now, and he’s better for it, he noted. “The equipment they are giving me, I see them as stepping stones,” he told the reporters.
“Glory be to God that I am now a CEO of my company, Wisdom and Sons Incorporated Nigeria Limited, Port Harcourt. “Today, I am happy. I am an entrepreneur, believing that in the next two to four years, I will become an employer of labour.
The world will hear my name. My vision is to have, at least, 50 workers to work for me in the next four years.” He said the training and empowerment he got from the government through the presidential office would encourage him to train and equip his staff very well. “I will treat my workers very well.
I will pay them good salaries. As the government trained me, I want my company to train many youths likewise. I have a plan and I pray that God would help me so that Wisdom and Sons Incorporated Nigeria Limited will become a multinational company.” Samuel Emesobe is one of the former agitators from Rivers State that renounced militancy and embraced the amnesty programme.
He was sent to the Banhill Vocational Training Centre in Benin City, Edo State, where he was trained in pipeline welding. The training started in November 2010 and ended in October 2011. “I can’t do structural welding or fabrication but I know much about pipeline welding,” he informed. “That is why I have decided to set up my business in Rivers State. My company’s name is Samitex Nigeria Limited. I want my company to execute contracts for big companies.”
Emesobe was full of praises for the federal government and President Goodluck Jonathan for the Amnesty Programme, even as he prayed for the late President Yar’Adua who initiated the programme. “I thank the government for this new life they have given me,” he enthused.
“I have now seen that violence is not good. Somebody once said, attack the evil, not the person doing evil. We thank the government for separating us from that thing that made us do evil.
Now, I am very good in pipeline and structural welding. May God bless Nigeria, President Jonathan and his Special Adviser on Niger Delta, Hon Kingsley Kuku. They have not only blessed my life, they have blessed an entire generation.”
Austin, an ex-militant from Cross River State, said his days in the creeks were a hell on earth. He expressed hope that the government would fuilfil all its promises to the former agitators. “The amnesty programme started in 2009, and in 2010 I was at the Orientation Camp,” he said.
“I was asked what I wanted to do, and I said I wanted to deal in building materials. In 2011, I went for training in Asaba, and last year, I was among those invited to Lagos for a three-week training. After the training, the government gave me N150, 000 to rent a shop for a year and said they would buy building materials for me to sell.
“My days in the creeks were not easy. I lost so many of my friends in the struggle. Their families are now on my neck. I should be able to pay some of their children’s school fees when I start this business.” But even as the beneficiaries savoured their new status, guests and officials of the Amnesty office cautioned them against spending the capital recklessly.
While welcoming guests to the event, Mr. Wilfred Musa, Head, Logistics and Deployment, Lagos Office of the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta (OSAPND), said the Jonathan administration was committed to ensuring that the purpose of the amnesty programme was fully achieved.
He expressed hope that soon, from the ranks of the reformed agitators, world-renowned entrepreneurs like Aliko Dangote would emerge. Mr. Joel Bisina, Head, Post Training and Peace Building Department in the Amnesty Office, said the 300 ex-militants were trained to become entrepreneurs in structural welding, pipeline welding, metal fabrication, building materials, electronics supermarket, fisheries and in other areas. He said the government had provided items with which the former militants would start their businesses.
“The items are meant for you to generate income and grow your business. It is not for you to sell and close your shop. We are empowering you to become entrepreneurs.
The 10 richest people in the world are entrepreneurs. They own their offices and employ people. That is what you, the ex-militants, are set out for,” he said. In his keynote address, Mr. Scott Tommy, MD/CEO, Merryl Fynch Nigeria Limited, said the amnesty programme was designed to transform the former militants into better persons.
“The major feature of this programme is to get you back into the social mainstream of the country; building capacities in skill acquisition and facilitating the youths into viable opportunities by the Amnesty Office. So far, we have trained 700 of the youths,” he said.
Also speaking, Chief Ovunda Akarolo, MD/CEO, Hadnuvo Nigeria Limited, commended the beneficiaries for their commitment and dedication during the training. The guest speaker, Mr. Paul Foh narrated how, with determination and focus, he changed his personal destiny from a hawker of phone recharge cards in the streets of Port Harcourt to an international motivational speaker within a few years. “I did training for MTN staff few days ago.
I told them, I used to sell your recharge cards in the streets. But now your company has invited me to talk to you and the company is paying me good money for it.” He urged the beneficiaries to believe in themselves and accept responsibilities, adding that they should maximise the opportunities given to them by the Amnesty Office. The guest speaker also enjoined the reformed fighters to acknowledge God in all their endeavours.
Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Kingsley Kuku, who was represented at the event by Mr. Lawrence Pepple, Head, Reintegration Unit, Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta (OSAPND), noted that a lot of accomplishments had been recorded under the amnesty programme.
According to him, not a few ex-militants have had their lives totally transformed. Said Kuku: “Over 13,000 delegates have been deployed to local and foreign training centres for various skills acquisition programme and formal education; over 25,000 delegates have been placed in higher institutions of learning in local and foreign colleges and universities, studying various courses; over 4,608 are currently undergoing various forms of skill-acquisition training in Nigeria and other parts of the world while over 9,192 have graduated. Among them are these 300 beneficiaries for the pilot scheme that we are witnessing today.”
He said further that over 690 female delegates were currently in specialized skills centres, while no fewer than 174 delegates have been offered direct employment within and outside Nigeria. “I want to enjoin you to make sure that these equipment and wares are used to grow your businesses. Please do not sell the equipment and do not eat up all the money you will make from engaging in your chosen businesses.
Make a difference in your life and your community. Grow your business so that when history will be written about the amnesty programme, you will be on the side of the success story,” Kuku said. Mrs. Sweet Okundaye, Head, Legal Unit, OSAPND, warned that the Amnesty Office would deal decisively with any of the beneficiaries that violated any part of the agreement.
In a chat with the reporters, Dan Alabrah, Head, Media and Communications Unit of the Amnesty Office spoke further on what the whole programme was all about. “This programme is about empowering some Niger Delta agitators, who indicated interest to become entrepreneurs.
They have already been trained in different vocations. Some of them were trained outside Nigeria and some of them in Nigeria. Some were trained for nine months and some were trained for 12 months. What we did was to empower them so that they could set up their own businesses,” Alabrah explained.
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