In its effort to check restiveness and engage youths in meaningful ventures, management of Elano Investments Limited (EIL) has trained 31 youths in Niger Delta in various skills.

The company manages the dividends from the 7.5 per cent equity allocated to the Eleme and Elelenwo communities, which hosts Indorama/EPCL.

At yesterday’s graduation of trainees at the Maritime Academy of Nigeria at Oron in Akwa Ibom State, EIL’s Chairman of the Board of Directors, Gomba Okanje, noted that if the region’s youths had acquired requisite skills, they would not have been restive and disposed to criminal activities.

The company chief said EIL empowered youths to give them a secure future.

He urged the trainees to practise the knowledge they acquired, adding that EIL will provide them with starter packs and accommodation.

Okanje hailed the management of the academy for enabling youths to acquire various skills through their school’s curriculum.

The company chief urged governments to ensure that youths were engaged in meaningful ventures, especially skills to make them avoid restiveness.

The Chairman of EIL’s Education Committee Prof. Walter Ollor said besides the skill acquisition programme, the company might also provide bursary for indigent Niger Delta students in tertiary institutions.

He said: “We believe that human capital is the best that could be given to any community.”

Ollor said the best way to plan for the future was to provide a generation with knowledge.

Director of Maritime Academy of Nigerian Consult, Dr. Kevin Okona, said the beneficiaries were trained in computer appreciation and office management, diesel and petrol engine repairs/maintenance, electrical works as well as ICT repairs and maintenance.

Deputy Managing Director and Programme Coordinator of Wilder Perspectives Limited, the company that screened the beneficiaries, Mrs Edughom Hanson, advised the trainees to use their skills to improve their lives.

Source: The Nation