…Phase Two Begins
Over one million youths from the Niger Delta region have registered on the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, youth empowerment programme platform, tagged Holistic Opportunities Programme of Engagement, Project HOPE.
A press statement signed by Mr. Pius Ughakpoteni, NDDC’s Director, Corporate Affairs on 15, May, 2024 said that, while speaking in an interview with newsmen at the NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt, the Commission’s Managing Director, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, announced that the second phase of the programme would kick-off in the first week of June, following the conclusion of the first phase, which had seen the registration of over one million youths in the data base.
He explained that the second phase which included trainings in agriculture, technology, entrepreneurship, internship and marine, would be heralded by the on-boarding of communities that have donated land for the agricultural scheme of Project HOPE.
The NDDC Chief Executive Officer noted that the youth empowerment programme was part of the NDDC policy of transiting from transaction to transformation, which emphasises transparency and accountability.
Ogbuku stated: “We have given more opportunities and hope to Niger Delta youths through our Project HOPE, meant to identify interests of the youths for skills training. The programme has helped us to develop a comprehensive digital repository, comprising important information about the youths of the Niger Delta region; including their qualifications, skills, interests, needs, and current employment status.
“This database will serve as a plank for data-driven planning, enabling the formulation of impactful policies and programmes targeted at the youths.”
“We encourage more persons to register because we want to ensure that our future engagements with youths will be based only on those who have registered with us in the database. That will enable us to know their areas of competence, because we discovered that our previous trainings were given to friends and family members who are probably not even interested in the training.”
The NDDC boss remarked that the Commission was partnering with the Niger Delta Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Trade, Mines and Agriculture, NDCCITMA, in the training of youths and young entrepreneurs in the Niger Delta region. He said that the collaboration would ensure the sustainability of youth development programmes.
He remarked that the chamber of commerce, which had been registered and inaugurated, would work in conjunction with the bank of Industry to support future NDDC training programmes.
In his remarks, the NDDC Executive Director, Projects and the Chairman of Project HOPE Implementation Committee, Sir Victor Antai, noted that the programme had been translated from vision to reality.
He declared: “Project HOPE has come to stay. When it was launched on July 12, 2023, some sceptics expressed reservations about the visionary programme. Today, we have started translating the lofty ideas into visible action.”
“I assure you that the HOPE initiative is real and will be sustained. The database that we are building will not only help us to select the right persons, but it will also help us to monitor their progress. We are using technology to ensure that you do not need to know anybody to be enlisted into the programme.”
Also speaking, the resource person for Project HOPE, Mr. Blessing Fubara, affirmed that the second phase of the programme would commence with six quick impact action specimens, such as the Music and Art sector, noting that the time had come for a serious development model to kick-off in the Niger Delta region.
