79 IDPs Bag Diploma At UNDP-Sponsored Auto-technology Skills Acquisition Programme

Seventy-nine Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from the North-East on Tuesday in Kaduna were each awarded a diploma in Automotive Technology Skills Acquisition at a programme sponsored by the UNDP.

The Automotive Technology Skills Acquisition Programme was conducted over a year at the Peugeot Automobile Nigeria (PAN) Learning Centre in Kaduna.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Country Director, Samuel Bwalya, said the trainees were made up of two young women and 77 young men.

He said the trainees were drawn from Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, which were ravaged by the Boko Haram insurgence.

Bwalya said the IDPs trainees, through UNDP Livelihood Support Project, were enrolled for the one-year scheme at the PAN Learning Centre (PLC) by the middle of 2016.

He said the IDPs who represented a lot of hopes for communities where they came from were successfully trained in Auto-Mechanics, Mechatronics, Panel Beating and Welding, as well as Auto-Spray Painting.

Bwalya said 700 IDPs were shortlisted for the first phase of the scheme aimed at achieving early economic recovery in the affected area but only 575 registered.

“Currently 571 of the 575 were placed into three technical facilities in Kaduna, Maiduguri and Yola, and 79 of them are graduating now, while 179 others will graduate in Yola next week,” he said.

The UNDP official said the last batch from the Ramat Polytechnic Maiduguri and PAN Learning Centre will graduate in November 2017 and February 2018 respectively.

He expressed the hope that after passing through the training process the graduates would become peace advocates, responsible citizens, better business managers and potential leaders in their communities.

While noting with concern that prolonged development deficit in the north-east region exposed millions of people to different kinds of vulnerability, he expressed UNDP readiness to assist the vulnerable.

“Even before Boko Haram began its insurgency, communities were already vulnerable and struggling to survive. The insurgence just worsened the situation, resulting in mass suffering among the people, especially women and the youth.

“As UNDP, we are working towards ensuring that necessary early recovery needs are met through vocational skills training, livelihood support, and rehabilitation of public infrastructure.

“These efforts are providing catalytic ingredients for communities to thrive again, for individuals to be able to fend for themselves again and for development to return to the region,” Bwalya said.

He said UNDP remained committed to supporting the government in establishing standard technical vocational training facilities which would be useful in providing skills to women and the youth.

One of the trainees, Aliyu Ibrahim from Borno, lauded the UNDP for availing him the opportunity to undergo the training.

“This will help me to get resettled after being displaced by Boko Haram,’’ he said.

Ibrahim who was trained as a mechanic, said he would use the new skills to develop himself and benefit his community.

“I will go back to my state to open a workshop where others can be trained as well,’’ he added.

Another trainee, 20-year-old Fatima Ahmed from Gaidam Local Government Area of Yobe and a graduate of auto-mechanics, was full of appreciation for UNDP.

She said her new skills would go a long way in assisting her and the others she would also train in return.