Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Ikanade
Agba has commended the Concept Amadeus/Greek Technical Partners for
establishing Industrial Fishing Projects in the Niger Delta.
Agba said the projects would contribute to the growth and
diversification of the Nigerian economy and especially bolster the
achievement of self-sufficiency in fish production.
He gave the commendation when representatives of the Concept
Amadeus/Greek Technical Partners led by the Group Chairman, Prince Alabo
Wokoma, visited him in Abuja on Tuesday.
He said government was pleased with the development and would give its
support to such laudable project, which, according to him, would help to
douse youth restiveness in the Niger Delta region through creation of
jobs and fostering of economic activities in the region.
He stated, “I am particularly impressed by this initiative which shows
that a lot can happen when there is partnership between the Government
and the Private Sector.
“The Concept Amadeus/ Greek Partnership was one of the good things that
came out of the EGRP Focus Labs which was organized by the Federal
Government from January to May 2018.”
“The ERGP focus labs was one of the targeted initiatives of the
Muhammadu Buhari Administration to drive the three pillars of its
medium-term plan, namely: restoring growth, building a
globally-competitive economy and investing in our people. It was also
aimed at driving new investments that will create jobs for the people
across the 36 states of the Federation and the FCT.”
The minister expressed confidence that the project, when fully
operational, would help to promote the nation’s self-sufficiency in food
and fish production as well as help realise President Buhari’s promise
of lifting 100 million people out of poverty in ten years through its
capacity to create jobs along the value chain.
The Team Leader, Prince Alabo Wokoma had, in his remarks, informed the
Minister that it was contributions from the ERGP’s team that enabled
them to remodel the business model to now make it a fully-Nigerian
affair.
According to him, this arrangement would ensure that state-of-the-art
fishing trawlers/vessels would be built in Nigeria and state-of-the-art
fish-processing plants, which would process and package the fish in line
with EU standards, would be constructed along the coastal communities.
Prince Wokoma also said that each of fishing plants was expected to
service over 110 fishermen and provide jobs to over 3,500 people.
He stated that the project, apart from involving the building of the
fishing trawlers in Nigeria, would also include a component for
training young Nigerians in the art fishing.
The training, he said, would be organised by the University of Patras in
Greek. He explained that at the end of the training, participants would
qualify as EU-certified fishermen, adding that this would make them
employable in any part of the World.