The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) held stakeholder engagements, focusing on the community onboarding exercise for the Project HOPE agricultural specimen programme targeted at youths in Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Imo, and Rivers States.
During the interactions, NDDC representatives highlighted the significance of Project HOPE, an initiative aimed at developing a comprehensive digital repository of information about the youths in the Niger Delta region. This database will include details on their qualifications, skills, interests, needs, and current employment status.
According to officials, “This database will serve as a plank for data-driven planning, enabling the formulation of impactful policies and programmes targeted at the youths.”
 
The NDDC emphasized the importance of youth participation in the registration process, as it will enable the commission to tailor future engagements based on accurate and comprehensive data.
An NDDC representative stated.”We want to ensure that our future engagements with youths will be based only on those who have registered with us in the database,”
“That will enable us to know their areas of competence, because we discovered that our previous trainings were given to friends and family members who are probably not even interested in the training.”
The agricultural specimen programme, a key component of Project HOPE, aims to provide targeted support and training for Niger Delta youths interested in pursuing careers in agriculture. By onboarding communities and capturing relevant data, the NDDC aims to ensure that its initiatives are tailored to the specific needs and skills of the region’s youth population.
During the engagements, traditional rulers and other stakeholders from the four states participated, underscoring the importance of community involvement and collaboration in the successful implementation of the NDDC’s youth empowerment initiatives.
