Insurgency: Yobe Gov’t, UNDP Empowers 300 Volunteer Security Outfits

The Yobe State government in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and partnership with the Achieving Health Nigeria Initiative (AHNi), has trained and empowered 300 Volunteer Security Outfits (VSOs) in the state.

The 300 Security Outfits who comprise men and women have completed a vocational skills acquisition and peace building programme funded by the European Union for the stabilization and reintegration effort in the state.

The Executive Secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) Dr. Goje Muhammad, said the 300 empowered volunteer security outfits are the defenders of their communities during the peak of Boko Haram attacks in the frontline areas.

Represented by the Director Search and Rescue Operations, of the Agency Dr. Ibrahim Jalo Muhammad, said the distribution of start-up kits and cash disbursement to the volunteer security outfits is aimed to strengthen community stability through economic empowerment and sustainable livelihood.

He said over the years, the dedicated men and women have played critical roles in protecting their communities and have taken on a new mission on building sustainable livelihood and embracing skills that will support their integration into civil life.

According to him, through the EU-funded project implemented by UNDP in close partnership with the Achieving Health Nigeria Initiative (AHNi), the project aims to support reintegration and reconciliation of persons formerly associated with non-state armed groups, that is the volunteer security outfits.

In his remark, the Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Malam Babagoni Muhammad, said the frontline officers were trained on five different skills including; Painting, POP, Charcoal brackets, interlocked bricks production, solar installations and aluminum pot production clusters.

He said the beneficiaries were drawn from Potiskum, Damaturu and Gujba Local government areas in a bid to change their lives from community defendants to empowered brave winners.

In addition to the training, each of the participants receives a start-up pack that has all the necessary working tools and the sum of fifty thousand naira which brings the total amount of cash given to the three hundred participants to NGN 15,000,000 fifteen million naira.

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