Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) , Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw, has said that plans are underway to establish an Information Communication Technology in Calabar, Cross River State where youths will be trained on basic skills acquisition.

Speaking at the Cross River State office of the commission during the visit of the state Microfinance and Enterprise Development Agency, led by its Managing Director, Mr. Ignatius Atsu, he said NDDC would partner MEDA to ensure that trainees from the ICT centre were certified by Microsoft.

Ewa-Henshaw said, “We have held discussions and trying to see how we can partner with various agencies, including MEDA, in the area of ICT. We would see how we can create a standard computer centre that will be well equipped.

“It will be set up and used for basic computer training and when they finish the training, we will ensure that certification is done by Microsoft.”

Atsu said that the agency has the mandate to train 2, 000 annually for the next five years.

He also said through a partnership initiative with the Bank of Industry, the agency currently has a N500m deposit which is available for business concerns in agriculture processing and manufacturing sector.

He said, “The N500 million is available to all businesses that are linked with processing and manufacturing. So, if you are processing any agricultural produce like rice, maize, cassava or millet, the fund is available with single digit interest rate.”

NDDC Commissioner in Cross River, Mr. Paul Adah, said efforts are targeted towards reducing the high rate of unemployment.

He said NDDC would synergise and work with other institutions that promote the empowerment of youths.

(Source: WorldStageNews)