Cross River State Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment Patrick Egbede has disclosed that 200 repentant Bakassi militants have again been sent to Nasarawa State for a two-week training.
He said that the first batch of the same number completed the same Innovative and Integrated Agricultural Value Chain Training a couple of months earlier.
He disclosed this in Calabar when the second batch left yesterday in a convoy after the State Security Adviser, Major General Obongha Ubi (retd), had also addressed and profiled them before departure.
He said that the all-expenses-paid training programme was borne out of the magnanimity of the state governor, Bassey Otu, to spread the net of his ‘People First’ mantra to accommodate all categories of persons.
Egbede emphasised that the aim is to lay a good foundation for an aggressive agricultural revolution in the state that would boost the economy and increase employment, particularly among youths.
According to him, the training would be climaxed with empowerment by the state government to motivate the graduates into productive ventures with attendant wealth creation and to attain the enviable status of employers of labour.
Egbede said the training programme would be comprehensive, covering every aspect of modern agricultural practice.
He assured that the 400 beneficiaries would have opportunities to become self-reliant and may never wish to indulge in militancy again.
On his part, Major General Ubi urged the repentant militants to reciprocate the state governor’s gesture by being good ambassadors and strictly following the rules governing the training.
He cautioned that the monitoring team of the state government would continually beam its searchlights to identify any form of default.
The trainees promised to remain loyal, hardworking and committed to the training programme.
They promised to bring glory to the state by all means.
