Iniubong Umoren: Over 6,000 Unpaid Ibom Skill Participants To Hit Street, Allege Govt Fraud

By UbongAbasi Ise

As the rape and subsequent murder of a 26 year old job-seeker, Miss Iniubong Umoren, continues to dampen the public mood, about 6,000 trainees and trainers that participated in Ibom Skill Development Initiative of Akwa Ibom State Government between 2015 and 2017 have announced their intention to take to the streets, to protest over N8.9 billion worth of unpaid training allowance and starter’s pack owed them by the State government.

The group, while attributing the tragic death of a young university graduate to lack of job opportunities in the state, vowed to take their grievances to the streets within few days in order to draw the international attention to how Mr. Udom Emmanuel-led state government caused private businesses to train thousands of Akwa Ibom youths with their own tools and resources only to abandon them at the final stage.

About 6,425 members of the group drawn from all the 31 local government areas of the state consisting of 5,785 trainees, 620 trainers, and 20 volunteers who registered in an empowerment programme of the state government then domiciled in the office of Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Still Development Project in 2015, are coming under the banner of Forum of Ibom Skills Trainers/Trainees Multipurpose Cooperative Society, MPCS, to demand for their entitlements totaling N8,933,000,000.00.

According to information made available to our medium, participants of the skill acquisition programme were reportedly promised training allowance and given assurances that upon completion of the training, all successful trainees would be empowered with starter’s packs to enable them have a successful business take off, while the 620 trainers that were engaged were to be paid reasonable compensation per head of a trainee at the end of the programme. But with over six years gone, the Akwa Ibom State government seems to look the other way.


	Former Senior Special Assistant to the Governor, Rev. Dr. Mrs. Majorie Abasiodiong in tête-à-tête with the Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Moses Ekpo, during Youth Skill Day in 2016

Speaking with our correspondent, the publicity Secretary of the MPCS, Mr. Oton Akpan, said since the graduation of the trainees on 23rd February, 2017, the Akwa Ibom State government has ignored them despite the subsisting agreement to pay allowance to the participants including the provision of starters pack to the graduates as well as compensation of individual trainers who used their resources and their private tools to train over 5,785 youths on various skills.

Akpan said the aggrieved trainees and trainers would not waste time in hitting the streets in peaceful demonstration against deprivation of economic opportunities as this has already led to the gruesome death of Miss Iniubong Umoren who was lured through job offer by her killer.

The group’s publicity secretary frowned at the recent launching of the second batch of a vocational and business training project for 3,000 youths in the state while the first batch numbering 6,425 participants are still left unpaid.

“Because of lack of job, we have lost our very special sister, Iniubong Umoren, who in search for work had lost her life. It is a very passionate moment in Akwa Ibom State, and we are appealing to the State Government, that if they had been high-handed in the past, and not willing to listen to the plight of the people, the hour is now because by the time about 6,000 of those who were trained from 2015 to 2017 march on the street, that would send a very wrong signal to the whole world on how insensitive the state government had been.

Akpan

“We are appealing to the state government to look passionately into this issue because we do not see the reason they should have gone to inaugurate the second batch when they are not done with the first. It is such an ignominy and we would not accept that. We are appealing that those in government should listen to this voice of reason otherwise in a day’s time, we are mobilizing all of our men and women to hit the street of Akwa Ibom and the whole world will hear us,” he declared.

In a letter addressed to Governor Udom Emmanuel dated 8^th December 2020 and signed by the President of the forum, Ukai Christopher Udoette and other executive members, the group expressed astonishment over their abandonment by the state government and subsequent launching of the second batch with the aim of empowering 3,000 youths with official responsibility being shifted from the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor, to the State Ministry of Trade and Investment.

Ukai Udoette

The forum noted in the letter that the former Senior Special Assistant to the Governor, Rev. Dr. Mrs. Majorie Abasiodiong, had directed all the trainees to make upfront payments to an Official Account No. 1014063265 in the Zenith Bank Plc for a greater reward which is not forthcoming since 2017.

Governor's wife, Mrs. Martha Emmanuel (m) receiving gifts items from Skill Office during Onna Women Skill Day, 2016

Also, a letter of appeal for the compensation dated 3rd June, 2017, addressed to Governor Udom Emmanuel by the aggrieved participants of the programme, stated that the former SSA on Skill Development had collected registration fees in the sum of N1,150 per participant; sold a branded T-shirts to participants at N1,500.00 each; collected SMEDAN Registration Fees in the sum of N500.00 per participant; sold Tag/Certificate of SMEDAN Training to participants at the rate of N1,000 each; printed Certificate of Skill Training for each participant at the rate of N2,000 per participant, and charged N7,500 per participant for Sony Training.