Yemisi Izuora
The federal government is proposing a Niger Delta Development Bank which will help to facilitate development of the region, the Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mr. Nsima Ekere, has said.
Addressing representatives of youth groups and ex-agitators from the Niger Delta at the headquarters of NDDC in Port Harcourt, Ekere said the proposed bank would also assist people from the region, especially youths, to participate in the establishment of modular refineries in the region.
He said one of the programmes of the federal government is the establishment of modular refineries in the Niger Delta region to deter youths in the area from involvement in illegal refineries.
“Instead of doing the small illegal refineries, government wants to help us with the technology to do this bigger so that we will be involved in refining in such a way that the environment will not be destroyed,” he said.
He however noted that people in the region, especially youths, would have challenges getting enough capital to get involved in the modular refineries.
His words: “The challenge will be how the youth of the region will get enough money to buy into these modular refineries. Federal government has mandated the NDDC to work out the modalities with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources. We want to ensure that whether the youth have money or not, they can key into this.
So, we are going to set up a Niger Delta Development Bank to drive the development of the region. And inter-ministerial committee has also been set up in the presidency to look into all the issues raised during the visit of the vice president to the region.”
He reiterated the commitment of the commission to the economic empowerment and development of youths of the Niger Delta region.