The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), has launched the internship scheme for 10,000 youths from the nine states in the Niger Delta region.
The scheme was established to prepare the youths of the region with the training and experience they need for gainful employment and also to prepare them for self-employment through entrepreneurship.
Launching the scheme in Port Harcourt yesterday, the chairman of the NDDC governing board, Barrister Chiedu Ebie, said it would also develop metrics for its impact on the economy of the Niger Delta region.
Ebie, who said the scheme is strictly for persons below 45 years, added that admission into it would be highly competitive and would be driven by merit.
In his speech, NDDC managing director, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, applauded youths of the Niger Delta region, for allowing peace to reign in the entire region as the nationwide protest continues.
Ogbuku said: “The protest was not meant for the people of the Niger Delta. We have demonstrated that we might be diverse in our languages, but we have one ideology. When the people of Niger Delta were protesting, nobody joined us.”
He called on companies that left the region in the heat of the unrest to come back as the Niger Delta has become the most peaceful region in the country.
