Trainers and beneficiaries of a 3-month skills acquisition programme, organised by the Victorious Prayer Network, (also known as, King Makers Ministries), has barricaded the gates of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, to protest the commission’s reluctance to promises made to them.
The protest by the Niger Delta women and youths at the weekend, we gathered disrupted an interactive session between executive management, staff of the commission and the Ministry of Regional Development at the NDDC event centre, along Eastern By Pass, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The protesters alleged abandonment and neglect of their skills training centre by the NDDC, accusing the Commission of not fulfilling it’s promise of sponsoring the skills acquisition/training and providing starter packs for the over 2,000 beneficiaries.
The protesters who displayed placards with inscriptions such as; ‘NDDC fails to graduate Niger Delta skills acquisition 2nd edition, your action speak volume, please respond to our demand, Dr Samuel Ogbuku,’ ‘NDDC please release funds for our starter packs, we are done with the training’. among others, also sang solidarity songs.
Recall that the same group had last month equally disrupted the NDDC’s 25th anniversary celebration at the Dr Obi Wali International Conference Centre in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Prophetess Mrs. Victoria Agori, Leader of the protesters and founder of the Victorious Prayer Network, organisers of the skills acquisition scheme, during the protest said the training had two phases with the first batch in Bayelsa State while the second took place in Rivers.
Prophetess Agori said the beneficiaries comprising youths, teenagers, men and women, were trained in different skills such as; catering, tailoring, barbing, Information Communication Technology (ICT), hairdressing, electricals, video and photography, bead and gele making, shoe and soap/detergent making, and cosmetic production.
Agori, who is also the Founder of United Izon Tare-Ogbo International, claimed that she and her partners have spent millions of naira and also borrowed to run the programme, empowering the students with different skills, but regretted that they have been abandoned by the NDDC, leading to delay in graduation of the trainees, which was due for March, 2025.
She particularly noted that NDDC’s Director of Skills Development, Barr. Lyna Okara, represented by the Directorate of Commercial and Industrial Development, Mr. Anderson Ukeh, in March, 2025 during a visit to the skills acquisition centre with a team from the NDDC, to inspect the progress of the training, commended them for doing a great job, and expressed satisfaction with what they saw.
She said, the NDDC speaking through Okara’s representative, Mr. Anderson Ukeh, after the inspection, assured them that the commission under the leadership of Chiedu Ebie as Board Chairman, and Dr. Samuel Ogbuku as Managing Director, were committed to human capacity development, empowerment of the youths, and will not fail in their commitment.
She said, “We are here to ask the NDDC to fulfill the promises they made to us concerning the skills acquisition scheme and training of 2,000 indigenes of Niger Delta people including widows, orphans, less privileged, pastors, women and others.
“We made a proposal to the NDDC for skill acquisition, which was approved. NDDC promised us financial support to run the programme and also provide the beneficiaries with starter packs during their graduation. But we are yet to hear from them, this is 5 months after the programme.
“We trained 2000 people in different skills. 1000 in Rivers State and 1000 in Bayelsa State. The training took place since march, but the students are yet to graduate till now, because NDDC has not fulfilled their promise.”
Agori who disclosed that there is ample evidence of the NDDC approved the center, added that she was surprised that the commission was denying them midway.
“There is evidence that NDDC approved and asked us to organise the skills acquisition/training programme, with promises that they will sponsor it and provide the students with starter packs when they graduate. But they didn’t do anything instead, they are denying us.
“If they are denying that they did not approved the skill, why did NDDC Director of Skills Development, Barr. Lyna Okara send Mr. Anderson Ukeh and other delegates from NDDC to come for supervision of the training in March this year.
“We are calling on the NDDC management to keep to their promise of support and sponsorship, so that the trainees can graduate and go home with their starters packs. They are accusing me of receiving the money from NDDC and not doing the needful.”
Agori appealed to President Bola Tinubu, his wife and the Minister of Regional Development, Engr. Abubakar Momoh to prevail on the NDDC to address their demand.
Some of the protesting students urged the NDDC to facilitate the provision of their starter packs as promised by the organizers of the scheme to enable them graduate and develop themselves.
They said that they won’t stop the demonstration, adding that they might even take the protest to Abuja if need be.
One of them identified as Lora said: “After the training three months ago, we have been waiting for our graduation and starters pack. I was trained in tailoring. I have the skill now, and I want the equipment so that I can use it to develop myself and take care of my family.
“We are pleading with the MD and the NDDC to help us, we are all Niger Delta people.”
Addressing the protesters, a representative from the NDDC appealed to the protesters to visit the Commission’s headquarter for proper handling of the situation, stressing that the demonstration was ill timed as the day was set aside for celebration and not for protest.
The meeting between the NDDC and the ministry was part of the two days working visit of the Minister of Regional Development, Engr Abubakar Momoh, to the Commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt, where he also inspected ongoing projects executed by the commission, including a 2-kilometre double-lane Kaa-Ataba Road with two bridges linking the Khana Local Government Area to the Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State.
