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Former Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, has urged Niger Delta elders to plan a future outside oil and gas.
Jonathan lamented that the future of hydrocarbon resources is bleak.
The former president stated this on Friday at the Niger Delta stakeholders summit.
Naija News reports that the Niger Delta accounts for over 90 per cent of Nigeria’s hydrocarbon resources.
However, Jonathan has stated that it cannot be relied on, adding that it may dry up someday.
He said, “The next thing I believe is oil. We are here because we all produce oil. But everybody know that fossil fuel, hydrocarbons, the future is so bleak. It may dry up, just like the Oloibiri oil field dried up. Therefore, the Niger Delta should begin to see how they will start building the Niger Delta without hydrocarbons.
“We must prepare our young people and our children for the Niger Delta without hydrocarbons. There are so many ways to do it, and I admire the competence of the key actors in the NDDC
“One thing is about education and NDDC has been given scholarships. I know that but I think they have to strengthen that aspect very well. Let our youth be well educated and acquire skills so that they can work anywhere in the world.”
The former president said the region should also eye industrialization.
He said the NDDC can work with agencies of governments with a track record of loan management.
“If they work with these agencies, and they provide the funds for the people of the Niger Delta to assess, I believe it will improve the industrialization of the Niger Delta,” he said.
Jonathan also advised the NDDC, governors and other stakeholders in the region to consider massive investment in agriculture, adding that agriculture is a key area for Nigeria.
“If you give aggregate loans, the repayment of aggregate loans in the country is very, very poor. And that’s why even the Bank of Agriculture is not doing well. But those who are really serious in agriculture could be giving assistance from our grants, but not cash.
“It should be in the form of inputs, but not the portfolio farmers. It must be people who are really doing farming,” the politician added.
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