AISHA ABUBAKAR
The Federal Government is to partner with the Republic of Greece on the training of Niger Delta youths and others in ship building, fishing, food sufficiency and employment generation.
The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, disclosed this when the representative of the Greece government in Nigeria, Concept Amadeus Limited, paid a working visit to the Ministry on September 3, 2019, in Abuja.
Senator Akpabio said that the Ministry is poise to improving the standard of living of the people of Niger Delta and Nigeria in general. He commended the initiative which according to him, will reduce militancy and crises of unemployment in the country.
The Minister noted that the partnership will empower the youths in the Niger Delta region, stop the illegal fishing on Nigerian shores and also give Nigerians the opportunity to explore the value chain in the fishing industry.
Senator Akpabio said that the host communities will be involved in the whole process to enable them own the project and provide the enabling environment for successful hosting of the dockyard.
He lamented that most areas in the Niger Delta may not be good for fishing because of oil exploration adding that the Maritime University in Okerenkoko , Delta state and the Maritime Academy in Oron, Akwa Ibom State, can be used as the training ground for the ship building progarmme.
To ensure that the whole process is domesticated, Senator Akpabio and the Minister of State, Festus Keyamo, set up a 5-man committee to work out detailed modalities of the training programme adding that any nation that cannot feed itself is yet to start.
Earlier, the Chairman and Chief Executive of Concept Amadeus Limited, Prince Patrick Osabase, the organization representing the Greece government said that the partnership programme will create employment for the youths in the Niger Delta region and enhance their potentials in the fishing industry adding that Nigeria lost about $10 billion yearly to untapped resources in the fishing industry .