• As Ogbuku urges participants to generate sustainable livelihoods
•Expert tasks NDDC on Niger Delta AI innovation hubs
Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt
The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), has commenced a regional Artificial Intelligence (AI) training and capacity building programme for hundreds of youths in the region, with a mandate to shift the region’s economy from oil dependence to knowledge-driven innovation.
Meanwhile, a professor of criminology at the Lagos State University, Prof. Adedeji Oyenuga, has called on NDDC to establish Niger Delta AI innovation hubs that will serve as centres of excellence for local software development, start-up mentoring, and digital skills training.
Managing Director of the NDDC, Chief Samuel Ogbuku, while declaring the programme open in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, yesterday, said the intervention was designed to equip young people with skills to become “opportunity creators” rather than “job seekers.”
“Today, we are not simply opening another training programme. We are opening a conversation about the future, and more importantly, about the place of our young people in that future,” Ogbuku said.
Ogbuku, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Obegha Oworibo, said the value of AI lies in turning ideas in one person’s mind into useful, marketable solutions.
Noting the theme of programme as “Artificial Intelligence Training for Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Livelihoods in the Niger Delta Region”, the NDDC boss stated: “The world of work is changing rapidly. Artificial Intelligence is transforming how people learn, create, conduct business and solve problems.
“A young entrepreneur can use AI to research a market, develop a business idea, communicate with customers and create content. A small business owner can use it to improve productivity and compete in markets that may previously have seemed beyond reach.”
The NDDC boss said for generations, the Niger Delta has been known for oil beneath its soil, but the next resource is “the knowledge, creativity, data and intelligence within their minds.”
“For previous generations, they drilled the earth for crude oil. This generation has the opportunity to drill its own future. They drilled oil. Our young people must drill opportunities. They exported crude. Our young people must export ideas.”
The NDDC boss said the Commission’s mandate now goes beyond roads and bridges to “human infrastructure.”
He continued: “We want to help move our young people from being job seekers to opportunity creators, from being consumers of technology to creators with technology, and from dependency towards sustainable economic empowerment.”
Ogbuku challenged participants from across the nine Niger Delta states to see themselves as creators who can deploy AI to solve problems in agriculture, education, healthcare, environmental sustainability, creative industries and finance.
He stated that the true measure of the programme will not be certificates issued, but “the businesses that are created, the ideas that are developed, the incomes that are generated, the problems that are solved.”
He urged participants not to ask only “what can AI do for me?” but “what can I create with AI? What problem can I solve? What service can I offer?”
“The Niger Delta has its creeks, but our young people must also occupy the clouds of possibilities,” he declared, adding that the Commission is committed to building an ecosystem where “skills can meet opportunity, ideas can meet markets, and innovation can meet investment.”
In his opening speech, the Director, Department of Information Technology and Innovation (IT&I), Emeka Ani, said the programme is a strategic investment in the future of Niger Delta region.
He said: “It reflects the Commission’s commitment to equipping young graduates and unemployed youths with the digital competencies required to thrive in an increasingly technology-driven global economy.”
He added that the programme is important because “Artificial Intelligence is rapidly transforming industries, creating new business models and redefining the future of work.”
Presenting his paper on the topic “Catalysing Digital Innovation, Job Creation and Economic Self-Reliance with Artificial Intelligence Skills”, the keynote speaker, Prof. Adedeji Oyenuga, said the AI skills can help communities move from dependence to productive self-reliance.
He said: “They can support innovation in all sectors, create new work opportunities and improve the capacity of people to solve local problems. However, this will not happen automatically. It requires investment in education, reliable digital infrastructure, affordable access to tools, strong public-private partnership, credible standards and continuous learning.”
He called on NDDC to “Establish Niger Delta AI Innovation Hubs: Create dedicated innovation laboratories across the region equipped with high-speed connectivity, cloud compute resources, and incubation support”, stressing that “These hubs will serve as centres of excellence for local software development, start-up mentoring, and digital skills training”.
He added that NDDC can spearhead the collection and curation of regional environmental, agricultural, and socio-economic datasets to enable researchers, innovators, and policymakers to train effective AI algorithms for regional development.
Earlier, theLead Consultant for the programme, Francis Abayomi, said the training is a further demonstration of NDDC’s commitment to the empowerment of all categories of stakeholders in the region.
He added that the training which is targeted at empowering a select group of unemployed young persons across the Niger Delta demonstrates the determination of the current leadership of the NDDC to empower stakeholders for productive engagement towards promoting the progress and stability of the region.