NDDC pledges to engage youths in productive activities

Fregene Kobiruo l Wednesday, March 22, 2023 

PORT HARCOURT – The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, says that it will review the Commission’s youth development programmes in the Niger Delta region to ensure that the youths are engaged in productive activities. 

Speaking at the Commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt when a delegation from the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education led by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Okechukwu Onuchukwu, paid a courtesy visit on him, the NDDC Managing Director, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, said that the Commission was reviewing its youths’ programme to make it more wholesome and sustainable.

According to Ogbuku, the NDDC will review the NDDC Youth Volunteer programme into a Youth Internship programme as part of its efforts towards discouraging sedentary lifestyles among the youths of the Niger Delta region.

He said: “We no longer want to encourage sedentary lifestyle among our youths. We don’t want our youths to be at home and be receiving money. Hence, we are changing the NDDC Youth Volunteer programme to Youth Internship Programmes where youths will be attached to organisations for six months to learn skills and will graded by their performance. We will not tolerate indiscipline from participants in the Youth Internship programme.”

Advertisement

He reiterated that the NDDC was set up to intervene in the development of the Niger Delta region and will work together with all development partners.

The NDDC boss noted that universities in the Niger Delta region were key stakeholders in the development of the region, noting: “We want to partner with universities on effective research. We seek research that can tackle challenges facing our communities in the Niger Delta region. We will finance research that solves problems in our society.”

Speaking earlier, the Vice Chancellor, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Professor Okechukwu Onuchukwu noted that there were no NDDC projects in the University and called for support from the Commission for projects in the university’s Port Harcourt campus.

He observed: “We don’t have any NDDC projects in our University. We need your support to build our internal roads and to acquire operational vehicles. Contact us for any research you want to conduct in the Niger Delta region. We are your partners.”