Iniubong Umoren Protest: AKSG, Over 6,000 Unpaid Ibom Skill Participants In Talks

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By UbongAbasi Ise

In a bid to douse tension surrounding the rape and subsequent murder of Miss Iniubong Umoren while job-hunting, the Akwa Ibom State government has decided to give a listening hear to the yearnings of about 6,000 abandoned trainers and trainees that took part in Ibom Skill Development Initiative of Akwa Ibom State Government between 2015 and 2017.

While attributing the tragic death of a young university graduate to scarcity of job opportunities in the state, 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 that registered in an empowerment programme of the state government then domiciled in the office of Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Skill Development Project in 2015, were on the verge of staging a statewide demonstration 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.


But as the group, now operating under the banner of Forum of Ibom Skills Trainers/Trainees Multipurpose Cooperative Society, MPCS, become more vocal in demanding for their entitlements totaling N8.9 billion worth of unpaid training allowance and starter’s pack, there is likelihood that they may turn their back on the protest if Akwa Ibom State government meet their demands on time.

The state government, through the Commissioner for Trade and Investment, Prince Ukpong Akpabio, had made a move to broker peace with the aggrieved while holding a meeting in Uyo with the group’s executives on Saturday 8th May 2021, after which the party were given assurance that their agitation would be addressed soon.

As observed by our correspondent, Prince Akpabio disclosed that, unlike the Ibom 3000 Project that was given a nod by the state government before it kick-started, the 2015 Ibom Skill Development Initiative did not wait for the approval of the executive council before it was launched by then former Senior Special Assistant to the Governor, Rev. Dr. Mrs. Majorie Abasiodiong, which according him, caused the programme to struggle.

Speaking with our correspondent recently, the group’s president, Ukai Christopher Udoette, confirmed that the peaceful demonstration has been suspended as talk with the state government is underway.

Udoette, who is also the speaker of Save Nigeria Group Akwa Ibom State Chapter, said Governor Udom Emmanuel has mandated officials of government to look into the matter that has festered for over six years.

He thanked the governor for being sensitive and intervening in the problem, calling on all the members of the group to stay calm while they get to the roundtable.

“With the speed we are talking, I am very sure that the governor, being pragmatic, is listening to us. He has sent people to talk to us, and I want to use this medium to plead that no trainer or trainee, no matter how deep they are aggrieved, should take to the street while we are discussing with the government,” he warned.

On the meeting with the Commissioner for Trade and Investment, Prince Ukpong Akpabio, the MPCS president said the commissioner did not speak on his own behalf but was representing the governor of Akwa Ibom State, noting that relevant documents concerning the training had been forwarded through the commissioner to the governor.

Speaking with our correspondent earlier, 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 planned protest was to demonstrate against deprivation of economic opportunities as this had already led to the tragig death of Miss Iniubong Umoren who was lured through job offer by her killer. 

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

In a letter addressed to Governor Udom Emmanuel dated 8th December 2020 and signed by the President of the forum, Ukai Christopher Udoette and other executive members, the group had 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.

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.

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, and charged N7,500 per participant for Sony Training.

©THE RIGHTS GUARDIAN

 

 Click here to read more 

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

>Iniubong Umoren: Saviour Akpan Laments ‘Double-Wahala For Dead Body’

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>Oron Meeting: AKSG Gives Reasons To Location, Name-Change Of Deep Seaport  

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