The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project has graduated 120 Ogoni Persons Living With Disabilities special after months of vocational training, including photography, fish farming and fashion design.
HYPREP said the graduation marked a significant milestone in the project’s capacity-building efforts, especially equipping the most vulnerable members of the Ogoni community with skills.
Speaking at the colourful graduation in Bori, headquarters of Khana local government area of Rivers State on Friday, the HYPREP Project Coordinator, Professor Nenibarini Zabbey, said skills is one of the hallmarks of the Project’s intervention in Ogoniland.
He said over 8,000 direct jobs have been created and 5,000 persons from Ogoni communities have been trained in 21 vocational skills and empowered with starter packs.
While disclosing that 2,400 Ogoni youths and women are currently undergoing training in cybersecurity, rigging, cloud mapping, software development, animation and graphic design,
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and full-stack development, Zabbey explained that special focus on persons with disabilities became necessary because they represent the most vulnerable segment of the society.
“They cannot move. Those that are crippled are the most vulnerable in our society. And in all our programmes, we try to integrate them. But we feel that we should come up with a special programme for only people living with special needs, the underserved population in Ogoni,” he stated.
Zabbey said HYPREP worked closely with the leadership of persons with disabilities in designing the training, adding that the beneficiaries selected five skill sets.
He listed the skills to include fish farming, photography, shoemaking, fashion and design, and basic computer studies, noting that the beneficiaries were given every support needed to ensure the training was successful.
“I assured them that I would take it seriously. I would personally come to their centre to motivate them and to ensure that their trainers train them properly,” he recalled with happiness.
While noting that intervention goes beyond handing out tools,.Prof. Zabbey said, “We are empowering them to take charge, to become entrepreneurs.”
He commended the resilience, enthusiasm and commitment displayed by the trainees throughout the duration of the programme.
Prof. Zabbey said he is proud of the beneficiaries and solicited patronage for the new entrepreneurs from the Ogoni people and elsewhere as a form of encouragement.
“And today they have reassured us that they will never sell their starter packs. Some of them are giving testimonies. Wearing the clothes that they made by themselves.
“Giving testimonies of how they have been sewing for their children and their relatives. And it is hands-on skills. The more they sew, the more they will become perfect.
“We should patronise them. They should be the ones to cover our programmes. Those who were trained in photography should cover our programmes because that is the only way we can support them,” the HYPREP PC emphasized.
President General of the Ogoni Association of PLWD, Baridabdoo Ngo, in his goodwill message described the graduation as historic.
“I want to use this moment to appreciate HYPREP for making us gather here today for the first time in the history of Ogoni, that the persons with special needs have been included in the affairs of HYPREP,” he stayed.
Ngo praised the HYPREP Coordinator for giving a voice to the voiceless, saying, “He cares so much about those that don’t have a voice, and they have found him to be a voice for them.
“And today’s programme is one of the significant events in the history of our lives,” the association leader stated.
Ngo noted that the Project Coordinator provided walking aids for the visually impaired and those with mobility challenges, as well as hearing devices for the hearing-impaired.
“This is the first time we are witnessing this. And that’s why we are so grateful. And we are saying thank you,” he said.
Ngo however appealed to HYPREP not to rest on its laurels but to start another batch of training that would accommodate more Persons Living With Disabilities.
“If you’re hearing my voice, you’re my fellow special needs, don’t lose hope because those that have not benefited, the next programme coming up, you will benefit,” Ngo implored others.
I’m an interview, on of the beneficiaries, Godfirst Barijasi from Barako community in Gokana Local Government Area, said, “I’m very grateful for what HYPREP did for us. Now my niece can sew. I’m very happy because I was spending money every time I was sewing outside.”
She explained that her 13-year-old niece can now sew clothes for the family, saving the household the cost of external tailoring services.