NDDC sets aside N1b for youth empowerment
By Theo Agidee
The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) says it has made partnership arrangements with the Central Bank of Nigeria and a consortium of banks in the country to set up a credit and entrepreneurial scheme for youths in the Niger Delta. According to the agency, in line with the deal the federal government has approved the release of One Billion Naira for the scheme to kick off this year is needed.
Mr. Chibuzor Ugwoha, NDDC Managing Director, represented by Elder Tony Orubo, Bayelsa State NDDC Representative while speaking at a one day workshop for Niger Delta youths in Yenagoa said the initiative was aimed at giving youths in the region the opportunity of making inputs into the development of the region as well as to ensure a bottom to top approach at sustainable development.
Speaking on the essence of the workshop, Mr. Ugwoha explained that it had become necessary to explore and harness the opinion of all stakeholders including that of the youths. He pointed out that the workshop had been packaged to answer issues raised by militancy in the Niger Delta as well as to make sure that the reasons which gave birth to the crisis do not re-occur.
On how the NDDC hopes to achieve this , the NDDC chief executive officer explained that the commission would establish an employment scheme for graduates of tertiary institution which would be known as the NDDC Technical Aid Corp (NTAC). According to him, the pilot phase of the programme would involve the induction of about two hundred graduates. He further adds that the capacities of the trainees would be developed to make them attractive to organizations in the private and public sector.
The Managing Director while reiterating the agency's commitment to human and infrastructural development in the region said the body had trained no fewer than fifteen thousand individuals in various skills ranging from computer literacy programmmes, welding, agricultural training, business and home management.
He expressed appreciation to President Yar' Adua whom he said had been alarmed by the level of unemployment and underemployment in the region. He disclosed that the President in an attempt to address this, has made provision for the building of ultra-modern skills acquisition centres across the country in the 2009 budget.
Earlier in his address, Ugwuoha who noted that youths have brought the problems of the region to national and international spotlight also advised them to restructure their energy to finding ways through which they could contribute to the development of the country.
He further enjoined them to emulate the likes of American icons Rev. Martin Luther King Jnr. and President Barak Obama whom he said, had by their high ideals and persistence paved way for the emergence of the first Afro-American president of the United States.
