Niger Delta youths have threatened to shut down the region if some persons “within the circle of the Niger Delta Development commission (NDDC), continue to make things difficult for the contractor handling the Project Hope initiated by the commission to empower and develop the region.”
The Niger Delta Development Commission recently flagged off a youth development and empowerment scheme designed to create a comprehensive resource database of the youth population of the Niger Delta region.
The scheme which is known as Holistic Opportunities, Projects and Engagement, HOPE, is to provide a platform to empower youths of the region on a sustainable basis.
The youths who are drawn from the nine Niger Delta states, allege that the “actions of the said individuals are gradually slowing down every activity of the contractor handling the project Hope, even though some communities within the region have started donating lands and other necessary things needed for the smooth take off of the project that was flag-off since sept 2023.”
Addressing a media conference in Port Harcourt this week, the group under the aegis of Forum Of Niger Delta Youths Leaders/Critical Stakeholders, through their spokesperson Comrade Adokiyi Muyiton, said the region had a relief when present Bola Tinubu constituted the new Board of the commission led by Dr. Chris Ogbuogu, adding that “things turned the contrary when it was discovered that the Project Hope that was launched to cater for the interest of the youths in the region is now being slowed down due to personal interest of few selfish individuals.”
The group maintained that the peaceful atmosphere enjoyed in the region does not mean that youths in the region are comfortable with the way things are when compare with economic reality in the country, adding that they “can back and bite but they have decided to toe the path of peace because of the way new board has actually started with a good template.”
The youths who equally lamented that due to the bottleneck in the operations and ways of doing business in the commission must youths have been shut out because of lack of money to meet up as NDDC contractors, adding that in the process where some of them even struggle to get the job, they in turn sold out the job due to the bottleneck and unavailability of the resource to run the contract.
The group warned that they would no longer fold their arms any longer to see a project that is meant to alleviate the suffering of the region being stopped or sabotaged by unscrupulous and selfish individuals or groups, adding that any attempt or attempted attempt will be resisted to the latter.
