According to a report, at Harvard Business School in the United States, the belief in entrepreneurship is very simple: “You can teach it, and you can learn it.”
Using HBS's semi-official definition, entrepreneurship is “the pursuit of opportunities without regard to the resources currently under control.” It’s more of a process, a belief, and a commitment than a set of skills. It is a mode of thinking and acting, a war of observing the world, figuring out how to change it (hopefully for the better), and, perhaps most importantly, becoming a person capable of enacting that change.
Similarly, there are clear limitations in skills, beliefs, commitments and mindsets among key stakeholders who are vigorously pursuing opportunities to sustainably remove obstacles on the part of Nigeria. There is a veiled consensus that it is one of the better boards in the world. Intended Beneficiaries.
Irrespective of the resources currently managed, the Barrister Chiedu Ebi-led board and management of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is a federal government agency created by enabling legislation in 2000. Can it provide lasting solutions to socio-economic difficulties? Promote the rapid and sustainable development of the Niger Delta region and aim for an economically prosperous, socially stable, ecologically renewable and politically peaceful region.
To add context to the conversation, when oil was discovered in the region more than 50 years ago, people could not have imagined that they would become the brunt of the country's main source of income. They expected development and prosperity to come from exploiting the rich natural resources in their environment. But sadly, for people in this area, it was a very painful experience.
Essentially, it is not that past regimes in this country have not made efforts to address the region's challenges at various times and places, but while their efforts have been noble, they have Considering the level of development, such efforts seemed too insignificant. And what is needed to meet regional development is lacking. More specifically, this effort falls far short of what is needed to exorcise the specter of youth unemployment. This ugly saga persisted in the face of concerns raised by the international community, which was largely unconvinced that what the currently suspended administration was doing was the best way to resolve the Niger Delta problem.
There is, of course, some truth to these concerns expressed, as there is currently a glimmer of hope on the horizon. What we have today is just the opposite! Well-meaning people in the Niger Delta similarly hold the view that what the region is experiencing this time may no longer be the second half of a repeating cycle, but rather the beginning of something new and different. .
Apart from the fact that the new board and management team are congratulating themselves on their achievements, it is worth highlighting that healthy relationships have been established with key stakeholders within and outside the region, and of course with other institutions and committee members. It is also a lesson that the society should absorb. Efforts to bring order to the Niger Delta through youth empowerment, human capital development and democratized infrastructure development.
Furthermore, interesting accounts indicate that the policy thrust and programs from the new board and agency management are well development-based. This particular point partly explains why this work is interested in the ongoing development advances in the region.
Prominent among these projects, programs and initiatives are Efficiency Building Partnerships, Illuminating Communities, Initiating Sustainable Livelihoods, Improving Youth Capacity and Skill Base, Projects for New Hopes, etc. Deliver targeted and cost-effective projects, reduce carbon emissions, and improve peace and security.
Development experts say a program is development-based if it involves holistic improvement, a process that builds on itself and involves both individual and societal change. . It also requires growth and structural change to promote distributive equity and modernize social and cultural attitudes. Some degree of political change and stability, improvements in health and education to stabilize population growth, and increased urban living and employment.
Broadly speaking, it is no secret that throughout the early decades the world paid little attention to what sustainable development meant. However, such dialogue gained worldwide prominence through the introduction, adoption, and pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the United Nations, which lasted from 2000 to 2015. Its objectives are, inter alia, to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger and to achieve the following goals: These include universal primary education, promoting gender equality, reducing child mortality and improving maternal health, among others.
Without going into the specific concepts and approaches involved in program performance indicators, the evidence supports that the majority of countries, including Nigeria, performed below average. And this reality, combined with other relevant concerns, has been formulated in the Sustainable Agenda 2030, a United Nations initiative and successor program to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), with the aim of promoting and responding to It resulted in a set of 17 global goals. For people, peace, the planet, and poverty. At its heart is partnership and collaboration, ecosystem thinking, and the co-creation and coordination of different intervention efforts by the public and private sectors and civil society.
What is very remarkable is that all projects/programs of NDDC are created in line with the above initiatives. If in doubt, check out the agency's scheme known as Holistic Opportunities, Projects and Engagement (HOPE). Ready to provide a platform to empower youth in the region on a sustainable basis, the NDDC has created a comprehensive resource database on the Niger Delta youth population and is committed to ensuring sustainability in line with international regulations. It is designed to give young people a clear understanding of what they want in their endeavours. Best practices and development.
Project HOPE's efforts aim to create employment opportunities for young people, especially in agriculture, through support to smallholder farmers to ensure business growth while transitioning from traditional to mechanized farming methods. is.
“Arable wetlands, rainfall, and other favorable ecological factors allow us to plant different crops and vegetables at least four times during the farming season, allowing government agencies to accommodate large numbers of young people from the oil economy. It's moving aggressively into the agricultural sector.''That's the agricultural sector. ”
For me, NDDC's solutions to youth unemployment and creating an enabling environment for a sustainable future and innovation will help foster important drivers of governance and maximize the benefits that citizens derive from governance. Masu.
For example, a recent report on youth unemployment in Nigeria states: From a security perspective, mass youth unemployment poses a threat to the security of the few employed people. A transformation agenda that does not put job creation at the heart of the program will get us nowhere. ”
As we know, the youth challenge cuts across regions, religions and tribes, and in the past has led to the proliferation of ethnic militias and youth backlash across the country.
What the above information tells us as a nation is that the creative and transformative leadership currently underway at NDDC requires collective support, and through implementation to rectify the challenges of public leadership. and that it should be used as a model and template by all levels of government in this country. By doing this, we can achieve sustainable development as a nation.
Jerome Mario Utomi is Program Coordinator (Media and Public Policy) at the Socio-Economic Justice Advocacy Association (SEJA).
