Read what UN plans to do for 4,000 insurgency victims
– The United Nations says it will sponsor 4,000 youths affected by the Boko Haram insurgency on vocational skills in 2016
– The country director, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) stated that the measure was to enable them build capacity
– He commended the Norwegian government for providing funds for the training
UN to sponsor 4,000 insurgency victims on vocational skills. Photo: Premium Times
The United Nations has said that it would sponsor 4,000 Nigerian youths who are victims of Boko Haram activities from Adamawa, Borno and Yobe to acquire various vocational skills in 2016.
Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday, March 9, the country director, UNDP, Dr Pa-Lamin Beyai, stated that the measure was to enable them build their capacity as most of them had their businesses destroyed by the insurgency.
According to him, remaining idle for a long time without any positive engagement could make them become fertile ground for potential Boko Haram recruit.
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He noted that the UNDP’s vocational training for victims of violent conflicts in Benue, Plateau and Gombe states had succeeded in impacting positively on the lives of the 150 trainees.
“So, since we succeeded in three states – Benue, Gombe and Plateau – why not move forward to the three insurgency affected states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.
“We were able to select 4,000 youths who would be trained in different skills of their choice so that they could have alternative livelihood.
“We are not accusing them of being insurgents but the potential for them to be used as insurgents if they don’t have anything to do will be very high. So we feel we could train them to help them beyond their own livelihood so that they will not be distracted into getting into insurgency,” he said.
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He commended the government of Norway for providing the funds for the vocational skills training.
Beyai said that the fund came as support funding for conflict from the Norwegian government to support interventions in Jos and Benue for victims of conflicts before the north east.
In a related development, the inspector general of police, Solomon Arase has presented a cheque of N10 million to the families of 20 policemen who lost their lives while fighting insurgency in the northeast.
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