By Our Style Correspondent I Tuesday, Oct.28, 2025
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria – A hundred talented young people from Nigeria’s Niger Delta have swapped short-term handouts for long-term luxury skills, graduating from a gruelling six-month, live-in fashion design academy that aims to transform their lives and the region’s economy.
The pioneering programme, bankrolled by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), is being hailed as a major shift from ‘transaction to transformation’, focusing on quality, not quantity, in its mission to empower youth.
“We don’t believe in quantity; we believe in quality,” NDDC Managing Director, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, said at the vibrant graduation ceremony. “This time, we camped participants for six months to ensure real transformation.”
The lucky 100, who were selected based on competence and interest, weren’t just taught to stitch a hem; they were given the full designer treatment. They learned to operate industrial sewing machines and gained the business know-how to launch a thriving enterprise.
One beaming graduate, Miss Grace Nwaechefom, described the initiative as a “life-changing opportunity” that has empowered her to become truly self-reliant.
The NDDC didn’t just hand out diplomas either. To ensure their young stars can hit the ground running, each graduate was equipped with a full starter-pack, including their own industrial sewing machine, generator, and logistics support—a proper business launch kit!
From Novices to New Wave
Training consultant Mr. Greg Daniel proudly noted that most participants started with “no prior experience” but have now mastered the art of industrial fashion.
Dr. Ogbuku urged the newly minted designers to be “innovative, confident, and serve as ambassadors”, telling them: “Go out there, make your families proud, make Nigeria proud, and make the Niger Delta proud!”
The move into high-end fashion is part of a broader human capital drive by the NDDC, which is also tackling skills like welding and pipefitting. The agency’s next big push? Training young people for the country’s energy transition by focusing on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).
But for now, the focus is on the glittering potential of the hundred fashion graduates, who’ve been given a genuine chance to make a name for themselves on the global style stage.
As another executive put it to the graduates: “You have not been given fish to eat, but you have been taught how to fish.” Now, these fashion entrepreneurs are ready to cast their lines!
