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Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), at the weekend, empowered 96 of its beneficiaries who had acquired skills in four trade areas with starter packs to enable them commence their businesses.
Various items, including high capacity welding generators and accessories, cylinders, deep freezers, chairs and tables as well as bags of cement, among others, were given to the beneficiaries who had completed training in welding and fabrication, commodity shop management, building materials, and electrical/electronics.
Beneficiaries trained in welding and fabrication received complete equipment required to ply their trade, including a 250 Amps power-flex welding machine; 190/200amps and generator, 25 ram welding cable, electrodes, welding helmet and gloves, among others, just as each of those empowered with building materials got 400 units of 50kg bags of cement, wheelbarrows, shovels, head pans, helmets, hoe, nose masks and 2.5hp Elemco generator.
PAP Coordinator, Charles Dokubo, said training and empowerment of beneficiaries will run concurrently this year to improve on the over 2,000 beneficiaries empowered in less than two years of his assumption of office.
He said President Muhammadu Buhari was determined to turn around the situation in the Niger Delta through aggressive human capital and infrastructure development.
“We are working towards a situation where PAP beneficiaries would be empowered with the necessary tools to start business immediately they complete training. That way, they will not wait longer than necessary after training to engage in productive ventures and then fend for themselves,” he said.
He urged recipients of the starter packs to use the items judiciously rather than disposing them for immediate gains.
Meanwhile, abandoned corpses numbering over 600 dumped at the mortuary facility of the Central Hospital, Agbor in Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State, is giving the management of the institution serious cause of worry.
