Written by Anthony Oligbo
NIDPRODEV Communications Officer
150 young men and women from Delta State — the vulnerable and restive youth — are beginning a 3-month, in-resident training programme being implemented by NIDPRODEV. This documents their arrival at their new temporary home where change is intended, first in the mind and spirit and later in gaining life skills and conflict management skills and understanding the responsibilities of citizenship.

The Songhai Centre, Amukpe, Sapele, Delta State, was commissioned in 2003 as a centre to train youth and adults alike to be self-employed by former Governor Chief Onanefe James Ibori. If you visited the Centre last week, you would have witnessed farmers learning new techniques in animal husbandry and planting. This week, however, a new crop of trainees seeking a new way of doing things arrived. They are the 150 young men and women from Delta State — the vulnerable and restive youth — who are beginning a 3-month, in-resident training programme called the “Mindset Change and Reorientation Programme". The training is the first phase of a larger Job Creation and Conflict Prevention Initiative.  If the youth successfully finish the training, they qualify to enter a one-to-two-year vocational training programme. The training is sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme, Shell, and the Government, is managed by UNOPS, and is being implemented by NIDPRODEV. NIDPRODEV also developed the training manuals and pedagogy for the 3-month training and trained the trainers.  

The youth began arriving at the Centre on 8 March 2010 from 13 different oil-producing communities.

DAY ONE
8 March 2010

At about 9 a.m., the youth began to arrive from their various communities, including Ajaetan, Ajudaibo, Bolo’uama, Ebrumede, Egbokodo, Iffiekporo, Jeddo, Ohorhe, Okerenkoko, Ubeji, Ugbokodo, and Ugbolokposo.

The participants arrive with buckets, bags and baggage. Their first port of call is the multi-purpose hall. In the hall, the participants are identified, addressed, and given a meal ticket, which some termed ‘visa’, as it not only entitled them to free meals but also to the enjoyment of other benefits, such as health care. After the address by officials of the Songhai Centre, participants began to head towards their hostels or living quarters. Betsy Ejejigbe, one of the early arrivals from Ubeji community, seemed happy about the facilities of the hostel and enthused, “Everything is fine but for our toilet which the Songhai officials promised to fix up in an hour time.”

No sooner had the participants arrived, the clock ticked to 1:00p.m. — time for lunch. They dropped their baggage and headed to the dining hall where they were welcomed with one of Nigeria’s indigenous staple food combinations; Eba, Egusi soup and chicken.

In the dining hall, participants were seen seated in either male or female clusters. Some came in with food flasks to put their meals into and proceed back to their hostels.

At about 2.00 p.m., while the check-in process was still going on, laborers were seen cutting grass while tractors were used in making the centre befitting for human habitation. At other times, fumigators were seen fumigating the surroundings. Several trips were made to bring the participants to the venue. At about 4.30 p.m., two buses with the names of NDDC (a federal government agency) and UNOPS imprinted on their side brought some participants to the multi-purpose hall. After the usual routine identification, participants were driven to their hostels at about 4:40 p.m. The orientation, which was originally scheduled for 5:00 p.m., was postponed to the next day, as all of the expected participants had not arrived.

Before long, it was 6.00 p.m. and time to eat dinner. It was however delayed for 30 minutes as the Songhai kitchen had more mouths to feed.

After the dinner, participants—both male and female—began to socialize. They were seen in front of their hostels singing, laughing, and cracking jokes.

By 8.00 p.m., NIDPRODEV staff visited the hostels to ensure that they were in good condition. They passed the information of the 7:00 a.m. morning devotion, which was billed to take place in the conference hall the next day and urged roommates of each room to select a specific name that the room will be known for. Finally they took note of the shortcomings any room was facing. In the male hostel, Benjamin Sholuwa from Egbokodo community laid complaint that his fan was not in working condition. Others added that they had no mosquito nets, hangers, lights, amongst others.

DAY TWO
9 March 2010

MORNING DEVOTION
‘Marvelous in my sight, precious to my soul, what the lord has done for me, it is marvelous in my sight’, goes the melodious gospel lyric that ushered in the morning devotion which kicked off at 7:00 a.m. at the conference hall.

NIDPRODEV media spoke to some participants about what they felt about the devotion. Friday Okorodudu from Ugbolokpos community affirmed that he enjoyed the devotion. In his words, ‘from the message we were showed the need to put God first in anything we do’. He however suggested that the time of the devotion be changed to 6:00 a.m. Some others were of a contrary opinion as they say the timing is perfect.

AT THE STORE
After the morning devotion, NIDPRODEV media observed a large number of participants queuing to buy things, including stationeries, bathroom slippers, toilet soap, and tooth brushes amongst others. It was observed that the prices of these items were 10% higher than the ones obtainable in the city.

ORIENTATION BEGINS

At 8:00 a.m., orientation commenced with Joel Bisina acting in the capacity of master-of-ceremony. The programme began with introduction of trainers, NIDPRODEV staff, and Songhai representatives, respectively. They include F.A Igbu (DAME award recipient), Frank Uromieyan, Danjuma Daoop (UNOPS staff), Joel Bisina (Executive Director, NIDPRODEV), Ifeoma Olisakwe (Programme Manager, Finance and Administration), Orighomisan Akpieyi (Community Mobilization Officer), Anthony Oligbo ( Communications Officer), and Mrs. Okitipe (Mama Songhai). After the introduction came a brief talk from the Songhai Medical Officer whose words can be summarized in the axiom that says that ‘the easiest way to kill oneself is by hiding your medical condition.’ Thereafter the guiding rules governing the centre were read to the participants, some of which include:

• Lights out at 10:00 p.m.
• No protest in the centre
• Smoking allowed only in designated places
• No nailing or pasting picture(s) on the walls
• No indecent or provocative clothing
• Play music within room level

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS
The expected number of participants is 150. However by late afternoon on the second day only 108 participants were present. By midnight, however, the number had risen to 142.

ACTIVITY AND LESSONS GAINED
Mr. Bisina charged participants to be open to learning and discovering new things about themselves. He distributed papers amongst the participants and instructed them to state their local government area, core values, and what they hope to achieve after the programme, after which breakfast break was called. On return from the break, the papers were distributed amongst themselves and they were asked to find the person who collected theirs. The exercise afforded the participants the opportunity to interact, task their brains, and acquire determination as a virtue.

TALENT DISCOVERY
While the orientation was on, talents were discovered amongst the participants. Catherine Wekpe, from Jeddo community was discovered to have a singing ability, as she thrilled fellow participants with gospel tunes. Similarly, Daniel Grey from Aja-Etan community took to the dance floor as he could not help but to showcase his dancing talent. Though it is just the dawn of the Mindset Change and Orientation Programme, the words of Sherrif Mayomi from Ajeatan community might help capture the initial sentiment at the centre, “I like everything about the programme; kudos to the organizers.” See Mindset Change and Orientation Programme in our Current Projects section.