19th August, 2015
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said it spent about N100 million to train 150 victims of crises in Plateau on vocational skills.
Mr Matthew Alao, UN Conflict Prevention and Peace Building Analyst, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Jos.
He said that the programme was under UNDP Livelihood Support Scheme.
Alao explained that it cost about N300,000 to train each of the victims, adding that the training was funded by UNDP and the Government of Norway.
He said that the 150 beneficiaries of the programme, which lasted for six months, were some of the persons whose source of livelihood was affected by the protracted crises in Plateau.
“We thank the Government of Norway and the UNDP that are putting some funds into this Livelihood Support Scheme.
“To train one person, you need an average of about 1,500 dollars.
“This is quite a lot of money, and for victims of various crises to also continue to depend on us, we need support from governments and partners.
“But in terms of naira and dollar, we invested not less than 500 to 600 thousand dollars to train the 150 beneficiaries of the livelihood support scheme in Plateau,” he said.
The UN official, however, said the financial obligation to the programme was no problem to the organisation, stressing that UNDP was concerned with its “real time investment’’ on the beneficiaries and society.
“The scheme empowered these 150 persons including widows, child-headed households, youths and women in seven vocational skill areas.
“The beneficiaries were trained in hairdressing, tailoring, knitting, catering and decorations, GSM repairs, shoe making, leather work and computer,” he said.
According to him, the project is another UNDP’s efforts to cushion the impact of conflicts on the population in Plateau.
Alao assured that UNDP would continue to work with its partners to support the victims of crises in the country through various intervention projects.
“The scheme has the ultimate objective of promoting sustainable peace, social cohesion, and religious tolerance among the beneficiaries, and by extension, the residents of Plateau state.
“We are happy about the good report from their training centre that in spite of their differences in age, social and religious backgrounds, the beneficiaries related very well with one another throughout the training.
“We encouraged them to continue to be peace ambassadors in their communities,’’ he said.
He urged the federal and state governments to invest in vocational skills to empower the youths, particularly, those affected by the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East.