Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has flagged-off a programme targeted at youths, Niger Delta Talent Hunt, NIDETH, to harness their creative gifts in the entertainment industry.
While flagging off the programme at the Commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt, the Interim Administrator of NDDC, Dr. Effiong Akwa, assured that the Commission would continue to create programmes to address the challenges of youths in the region.
Akwa thanked President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr Umana Umana, for supporting activities aimed at elevating the initiatives of youths in the Niger Delta region.
“Niger Delta is blessed. Let me use this opportunity to tell the world that youths of the Niger Delta are the best you can find around the world. They are calm, confident, they seek to excel in whatever endeavour they find themselves.
“In the field of soccer the youths of Rivers State and Akwa-Ibom are taking the lead; wrestling, Delta and Edo are tops; swimming Bayelsa and Rivers are unbeatable.
“Our focus in this programme is to identify the talented youths, build them up and expose them to the world. We want to use this as an opportunity to provide a platform to expose the hidden talents in the region. If you build the youth, you build the nation,” he said.
Also speaking, Dr. Akwa’s Special Adviser on Youths, Engr. Udengs Eradiri, described the Niger Delta youths as enterprising, observing that artistes from the region had challenges of getting support and platforms to express themselves.
“The creative industry is one area that we can engage a lot of idle young people. We will continue to play our role in supporting institutions to create the platform to push our young people to the international community. We must keep the creative sector alive in the Niger Delta to develop young talents and to showcase them to the world.
“The Niger Delta youths need to be a part of these opportunities. We need to create engagements so that young people, who have a lot of energy can channel it towards talent development. The work of the NDDC is that of an interventionist agency. It is part of our job to create opportunities for young people to express themselves.”
In his remarks, the NDDC Director, Youths and Sports, Mr. Offiong Ephraim, said that NIDETH was a flagship programme of the NDDC Youths and Sports Directorate aimed at exposing the inherent talents in the Niger Delta region.
Ephraim said the talent hunt programme would kick off from the first phase which is Ondo, Edo and Delta State and followed by the other phases with the grand finale taking place in Port Harcourt, Rivers State noting that it would cover the nine states of the Niger Delta Region.
One of the leading artistes in the region and consultant for the programme, Mr. Okiri Harrison, also known as Harry Song, said that the new NDDC youth programme was a dream come true for those in the creative sector.
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