N’Delta group advocates youth engagement through entrepreneurship

A group, Niger Delta MSME Summit, is advocating for laws that will create sustainable programs to teach entrepreneurial skills and encourage participation in productive ventures.

While acknowledging the region’s historical focus on oil and the resulting entitlement mentality, the speaker emphasized that many talented young people in the Niger Delta lack opportunities to display their skills and abilities.

Moses Siasia, the convener of the Niger Delta Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Summit, engaged with journalists in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, sharing his thoughts and insights on the summit.

Siasia stated, “There should be legislation for entrepreneurship development. It has to be institutionalised. Growing up I used to see skill acquisition centres. How many skills acquisition centres do you see today?

“So there must be a deliberate effort to have institutions, training and capacity building centres that develop the minds and the energy of our young people.

“There are a lot of tech hubs in the South-West. In the middle, there are a lot of tech hubs. But when you come to the Niger Delta, can you find tech hubs within this space that teaches young people about innovation, different businesses and modules that they want to get involved in.

“So we are advocating that the government on its own should ensure that there should be a deliberate plan to constructively engage the minds and energy of our young people. That is why you see in this part of the world, a lot of young people go into criminality, drugs, kidnapping because there are no institutions that train and engage their minds.”

In his statement, So-George expressed dismay that despite the Niger Delta’s wealth of resources, including oil and gas, the region struggles with environmental degradation and youth unrest.

“The Niger Delta summit aims to harness the entrepreneurship skills within our people and foster growth among entrepreneurship,” he said.