By Ignatius Chukwu
Agro-tech may witness a boost in the Niger Delta following pledge of intervention by the newly repackaged Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
A tractor producing company in Port Harcourt has been hammering on what the firm terms absence of agrotech in the region.
Now, the NDDC has agreed to partner with the Presidential Implementation Committee on Technology Transfer to build the capacity of Niger Delta people in agriculture and other sustainable development programmes.
The Manging Director, Samuel Ogbuku, who spoke during a courtesy visit by members of the Presidential Committee at the Commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt, stated that the sustainable development of the Niger Delta region would be achieved through collaboration.
He remarked that the NDDC had recently inaugurated a Committee on Public, Private Partnership (PPP) to drive its partnerships efforts.
Ogbuku assured that the NDDC would continue to engage development partners to bring prosperity to the Niger Delta region because a peaceful Niger Delta region would translate to a peaceful Nigeria.
He declared: “The Niger Delta is very important to Nigeria. Once there is peace in the Niger Delta, Nigeria will be peaceful. If the region prospers, Nigeria will also prosper.
“I assure you that the NDDC is prepared to do whatever is necessary to ensure that our programmes impact the Niger Delta region positively especially the youths of the region. As it is, most of your programmes will bring growth to the Niger Delta region.”
The NDDC boss said that the new management was committed to partnering with agencies that would contribute to the development of the Niger Delta.
He said: “We have to fashion out the PPP model of expanding the development of the Niger Delta. As you can see some of the programmes you have are international projects that will bring funds to the Niger Delta. Most of these programmes will impact on our youths and I can tell you that we are very much prepared to utilize this opportunity.”
Speaking further, he directed the chairman of the NDDC PPP Committee, Emmanuel Audu-Ohwavborua, to liaise with the Presidential Committee on the partnership.
He underlined the importance the Commission attached to the PPP Committee, noting that it was placed under the supervision of both the NDDC Executive Director Finance and Administration, Maj-Gen. Charles Airhiavbere (Rtd) and the Executive Director, Projects, Mr. Charles Ogunmola.
Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the Presidential Committee, Dahiru Muhammed, observed that the Committee’s programmes were centered on agriculture and capacity building.
He said: “Through our training and capacity building programmes, we can help the SMEIs in the Niger Delta region with transfer of technology and funding. We can partner with the NDDC in the area of training out-of-school children in different vocations.”
Muhammed said further: “The Presidential Implementation Committee for Technology Transfer aims to complement Nigeria’s national development agenda in addition to acting as a catalyst for economic diversification program which aims at taking us off the dependence on Oil.
“Our projects would improve capacity and processes of individuals, businesses and benefit all businessmen qualified to benefit from such technology transfer more especially in agriculture, mining and SMEs.”
Port Harcourt-based Bobtrack Nigeria Limited has continued to lament over what the CEO, Ibifiri Bobmanuel, terms lack of any interest in mechanized agriculture with focus on tractorisation.
Bobmanuel had told BusinessDay that by 2023, the company would introduce self-driven tractors that would till the soil and plant.
He said it was astonishing to realize that states in the oil region do not consider agrotech and mechanization, saying only some states in the north seem to consider such things.
He said rice holds greater potential than fishery in the Niger Delta because of water everywhere and all year round, but that the planning to cause rice revolution seems to be lacking.
$$
