The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has graduated 300 young people from its Technical Skills Training Programme, a scheme designed to combat unemployment and build a skilled workforce for the oil and gas industry.
The announcement was made in a statement signed by the NDDC Director of Corporate Affairs, Mrs Seledi Thompson-Wakama, following the graduation ceremony held at the Commission’s Event Centre in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.
The statement read: “We are gathered to celebrate the graduation of youths from the Niger Delta region who have been trained in pipe fitting, scaffolding, forklift operations, sandblasting, and other specialised areas. This initiative reflects the mandate of Section 7 of the NDDC Establishment Act 2000, as amended.
“Our efforts to equip the people of the Niger Delta with technical expertise align with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu. The NDDC remains committed to a sustainable and regenerative approach to human capacity development, ensuring trainees from all nine states of the region benefit from this initiative.”
Mrs Thompson-Wakama added that the Commission invested heavily in training to ensure the graduates emerge as highly skilled professionals for industries requiring expertise in oil and gas, as well as manufacturing.
The NDDC Executive Director of Projects, Dr Victor Antai, who represented the Managing Director, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, described the graduates as pioneers and ambassadors of the new board’s vision to restore confidence in the region. He said the training was deliberately designed to fill technical manpower gaps in the oil and gas sector while addressing unemployment and poverty.
Dr Antai explained that the programme would ease pressure on white-collar job markets by equipping youths with hands-on skills, thereby fostering entrepreneurship and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Director of Commercial and Industrial Development, Mrs Lyna Okara, stated that the training curriculum had been meticulously structured to meet the demands of the oil and gas industry.
A representative of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Mr Timothy Iyenabo, encouraged the graduates to create personal development plans to expand their expertise and share their knowledge with others, thereby multiplying the impact of the programme.
Certificates were presented to the 300 graduates during the ceremony, which was attended by senior management officials of the Commission, including the Executive Director of Corporate Services, Hon Ifedayo Abegunde, and the Director of Agriculture and Fisheries, Dr Winifred Madume.
