June 03, (THEWILL) – In a bid to encourage youths to participate in the Niger Delta Development Commission’s Project Hope, the Movement for the Survival of the Izon Ethnic Nationality in the Niger Delta (MOSIEND) has commenced free registration for all its members across the region, urging them to avail themselves of the online exercise starting on Wednesday, June 5, 2024.
Our correspondent gathered that the NDDC’s Project Hope is designed to capture data of skilled, unskilled and unemployed youths from the Niger Delta region in order to train and empower them to be independent.
MOSIEND, in a statement on Monday by its National Secretary, Amb. Winston Cotterel Amain, said the online registration on the NDDC portal is not meant for only Ijaw youths but youths of all ethnic nationalities from the nine Niger Delta states.
Amain said the online registration exercise, which is expected to last one week for each of the zones, is billed for indigenes of Ibo, Isoko, Urhobo, Itsekiri, Ikwerre, and Efik among others, adding that MOSIEND is willing to register all of them as long as they are from the region.
He said the registration will commence in Rivers State, being the Eastern Zone of Ijaw nation, before holding in Delta and Bayelsa States.
Amain said the registration centre for the Eastern Zone is the National Secretariat at Suite 8, No. 55, Iwofe Road, Rivers State, and the opening time is 10am daily, asking all members to contact their zonal executives to get more information about the process.
According to him, all youths of the Niger Delta interested in the exercise are expected to come with their credentials and every other information about themselves.
Amain said MOSIEND saw the importance of doing the free registration for Niger Delta youths after a stakeholder meeting with the management of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) on May 7, 2024, with stakeholders led by the National Chairman of PANDEF, Senator Emmanuel Ibok Essien.
He stated that MOSIEND, as the strongest group with the largest number of youths in the region, is solidly behind the Project HOPE agenda of the commission and that making the youths avail themselves and capturing their data free of charge is the least support it can give to the NDDC which, according to him, is doing a good job.
“MOSIEND is doing this advocacy and free registration of Niger Delta youths to support the management team in achieving the goals or aims and objectives of Project HOPE,” Amain said.
Throwing more light on the project, the MOSIEND National Secretary said, “The NDDC’s Project Hope is designed to capture data of skilled, unskilled and unemployed youths from the Niger Delta region in order to train and empower them to be independent.
“However, for you to partake in this project and benefit from it, you must register on the NDDC dedicated platform online, and that is why we are doing this campaign so that nobody would be left out. We desire all our youths to be productive and self-reliant and this is one way to achieve that.
“As you know, MOSIEND is a pan-Niger Delta voice and we command the largest youth network in the Niger Delta, and we believe that by helping to spread this information and also doing the free registration, it will make the work easier for the NDDC, and the less unemployed youths we have in the region, the better and safer it will be for us.
“We believe in the development of our region both infrastructure-wise and in human capacity, and that is why we have used our personal funds to make this dream a reality. Instead of going to cafes to pay money for the service and in order to avoid instances of failed registration or incomplete registration, MOSIEND has employed ICT experts to do it for all Niger Delta youths free of charge.
“No matter your political party, ethnicity or religion, as long as you are from the Niger Delta and you come to our registration centres, MOSIEND will register you free. Also, help to share this information with those around you so that we can help lift more youths from poverty.”
Amos Okioma is a Correspondent at THEWILL
