The Minister of Niger Delta Development, Engr Abubakar Momoh, has assured that the federal government is committed to dowsing tension in the Niger Delta through sustainable development programmes targeting no fewer than 10,000 youths across nine intervention states.
Declaring open a vocational training programme in soap, detergents and home disinfectants production for 84 trainees yesterday in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, the minister said the training which had already held in Edo and Delta states, has produced about 295 beneficiaries so far.
Represented by his special assistant (SA) on Special Duties, Augustine Azebeokhai, the minister explained that the ministry’s interventions in youth-oriented and other humanitarian programmes since his assumption of office, have reduced the level of restiveness in the region.
He, therefore, enjoined the beneficiaries to take the scheme seriously by empowering themselves professionally so as to become employers of labour as government cannot employ everybody.
“We have the core mandate as a ministry to train and bring the youths out of poverty and that has contributed immensely in bringing down youths’ restiveness in the region.
“We are targeting between 5,000 and 10,000 youths in the event of improved budget,” he explained, and urged the beneficiaries to maximally utilise the scheme with the hope that it would provide the needed cash leverage to lift them above the poverty line.
The project consultant and chief executive officer of Samgreen Resources Nigeria (SRN) Limited, Mr Elton Onwu, explained that the all-encompassing scheme would also cover agriculture and all the value chains in the sector in order to address youths unemployment and food insecurity in the region.