N’Delta group seeks youth engagement through entrepreneurship

A group, The Niger Delta MSME Summit, has called for legislation to institutionalise entrepreneurship development aimed at teaching young people skills and engaging their minds in productive ventures. While noting that the focus in the Niger Delta region has been oil and the entitlement mentality, he said beyond oil many talented youths don’t have the opportunity to showcase what they have. The Convener, The Niger Delta Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Summit, Moses Siasia, stated this while he spoke to journalists in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. 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 remarks, the Coordinator of the Niger Delta Young Professionals Forum, Gerald So-George, lamented that though the region is blessed with abundant resources, especially oil and gas, it was facing 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.