The Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Ltd (SNEPCo) says no fewer than 2000 displaced persons in Borno are to benefit from its livelihood resettlement intervention.
The Managing Director of SNEPCo, Ms Elohor Aiboni, who disclosed this in her speech at the commencement ceremony on Wednesday in Maiduguri, said that the livelihood programme was being supported by SNEPCo and the NNPC Ltd.
Aiboni said that the livelihood programme would provide vulnerable persons, particularly women and youths, with needed skills and start-up packs.
According to her, the gesture is to help the beneficiaries, which include 100 persons living with disabilities, rebuild their lives affected by the years of insurgency.
“In line with our ambition to power progress by powering lives, we shall be supporting those who have been impacted by these security incidents to set up viable businesses.
“We will equip them with the essential tools and resources they need to become self-reliant and successful entrepreneurs,” Aiboni said.
In her remarks, the Executive Director of HRMDS Consulting Ltd. handling the programme, Mrs Ajele Jacobson, said the beneficiaries were drawn from Mafa and Jere Local Government Areas (LGAs).
Jacobson said the beneficiaries would be trained in skills such as animal husbandry, bead making, catering, cap making, groundnut oil extraction, henna design, knitting, leather work, soap making, milling and grinding.
In their respective remarks, Hajiya Bintu Alkali, the Representative of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), and Alhaji Modu Goni representing the State Ministry of Women Affairs, lauded the intervention.
They also assured the beneficiaries of maximum support from the state government.
Also speaking, the Representatives of Jere and Mafa LGAs, Abdulkarim Saleh and Bukar Ali respectively, said the gesture would go a long way in transforming the lives of the beneficiaries. They urged the beneficiaries to make maximum use of the opportunity provided to improve their lives and those of their families.
