2,000 beneficiaries protest non-payment after NDDC skill training

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No fewer than 2,000 beneficiaries, including widows and youths, from Rivers and Bayelsa states, have protested against the non-payment of stipends after participating in a six-month skill acquisition training which they claim was organised by the Niger Delta Development Commission.

The beneficiaries and their trainers on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, stormed the office of facilitator of the programme and Executive Director of Victorious Prayer Network at Nkpolu in the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State demanding settlement.

The beneficiaries of the skills acquisition said they completed a six-month training, but that the starter packs and money promised to them was yet to be given to them months after they completed the programme.

They expressed dismay that something was brewing between the NDDC and the facilitator, identified simply as Evangelist Victoria Agori, who organised the training in catering, barbing, soap making, tailoring, shoe making, computer and bead making, among others.

One of the beneficiaries, Comfort Eden, said that they stormed the office of the facilitator because they felt that something was going on between the facilitator and the NDDC, which is detrimental to their welfare.

Eden, who stated that she learnt shoe making during the training, said, “We started this training in January of last year (2025). We were informed that NDDC is giving us free skill acquisition, so we registered. We are about 2,000 persons and I was in the shoe making department.

“We were told that NDDC will allow us to start our own businesses after the training, but since last year we have not seen anything. We are not happy because it appears that we were deceived.”

Similarly, Josephine Christopher said the participants need their settlement as promised.

Josephine added, “They told us that at the end of the programme they will us machines and some money that we use to start our businesses.