The operator of Oil Mining Licence (OML 34), ND-Western Asset Management Team (AMT), and Nigeria Exploration and Production Ltd/Joint Venture have armed over 200 youths with starter packs after undergoing a skills acquisition programme.
The beneficiaries, drawn from the firm’s host communities in Delta State, were trained in various skills at the Delta State government-owned MultiPurpose Training Centre in Egbokodo-Itsekiri, Warri South Local Government Area of the state.
Presenting certificates and starter packs worth millions of naira to the graduands at the exhibition/graduation ceremony on Monday, the Chief Operating Officer (COO), Mr Eberechukwu Oji, said that the graduands were not just beneficiaries but ambassadors of change.
Mr Oji, therefore, called on the graduates to judiciously utilise the items and not sell them off, as well as become mentors to others.
Oji further said that NEPL/ND Western OML 34 AMT had, over the years, maintained a cordial relationship with its host communities by embarking on various social development programmes for the benefit of the indigenes.
According to him, the training, which was deliberately brought to the centre to ensure the beneficiaries had National Operational Standard (NOS) training as required by the National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB), was to help the state government alleviate poverty and reduce crime in society.
In her welcome address, the Centre Administrator, Mrs Peace Oreva Okonye, expressed gratitude to NEPL/ND-Western JV OML 34 for the gesture accorded to the trainees.
She said that the centre was built by the Delta State Government in partnership with the UN Development Programme and SPDC in 2008 for the promotion of human capital and sustainable development.
She said that the centre, managed under the state Ministry of Economic Planning, had 200 trainees who have successfully satisfied the requirements for graduation, including SEPLAT trainees and OML 34 trainees who trained from April to September 2023 and July to December 2023, respectively.
Okonye said the centre’s curriculum was designed to cover domestic, hospitality, construction, and technical skills.
She maintained that the youths, through the sponsorship of the oil companies, had livelihood skills that comprised various vocations, life skills, and entrepreneurship, as well as psychosocial and interpersonal skills.
She admonished the beneficiaries to justify the purpose of the training by using their starter packs to impact society.
In his goodwill message, Commissioner for Economic Planning, Mr Sunday Ekedanyen, who was represented by a director in the ministry, Mr Ben Nwaokolo, thanked the oil companies for bringing the youths to the centre to harness their entrepreneurial potential.
In their separate remarks, the president and women leaders of OML 34 trainees, Charles Borke and Bere Ogheneruemu, showered praise on the oil firm for allowing them to be self-reliant, pledging to be industrious with the training they acquired.
Ogheneruemu thanked the oil company for the opportunity to excel, urging the beneficiaries not to sell their starter packs but to put them to use.
Speaking, the ND-Western training coordinator, Mrs Eunice Akpourhobo, said that the programme was part of the company’s corporate social responsibility to its host communities.
She said the beneficiaries were carefully nominated by the host communities for the training, just as she appreciated the oil company for empowering the youth.
Our correspondent reports that the beneficiaries underwent vocational training in ICTs, hairdressing, cosmetology, catering/hotel management, electrical installation, welding/fabrication, and auto-mechanical, among other skills.
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