The Bayelsa State government on Thursday announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with a European fishing consortium in a move that would provide a significant uptick in the state’s agricultural sector.
The MoU with the consortium, Africa Atlantic Gulf of Guinea Fisheries, which includes some Nigerian firms, was facilitated by the Federal Government through the Senior Special Assistant to the President on the Niger Delta, Senator Ita Enang.
At the ceremony in Government House, Yenagoa, Governor Douye Diri said that the deal would generate employment for no fewer than 4,000 youths with 2,500 to be trained in fish farming.
Chief Press Secretary to the Bayelsa State Governor, Mr Daniel Alabrah, on Thursday quoted the governor as assuring the consortium of his administration’s support and expressed the hope that the MoU would translate into a workable contractual agreement.
Diri said, “I like to use this opportunity to call on our youths that while we preach prosperity, it would not be money flying from heaven. Prosperity would be by what we have done and the youths should seize this opportunity because the benefits are enormous to our state.
“Two thousand five hundred youths will be trained. Lecturers from the University of Patras in Greece will train youths from Bayelsa and graduates from the training will be awarded European Union-standard certification. This is an international certification and it enables you to work anywhere in the world.
“Very importantly, what we have just witnessed is that this will lead to the creation of 4,000 jobs and from their roadmap, that would be just in the first year.
“They are also going to have boat building yards, trawlers and fish processing plants of over 20,000-metric tonne capacity and 300-hectare offshore aquaculture farm.
“This is what this prosperity government has been preaching, asking our people to go into farming and aquaculture because we are a state sitting on the fish belt of Nigeria.”
Bayelsa Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, David Alagoa, said the agreement with the AAGGF specified that 50 per cent of the catch would be sold in the country while the other 50 per cent would be for export.
Enang said the deal would earn foreign exchange, protect Nigeria’s currency as well as train and employ citizens in lucrative ventures as well as provide food for Nigerians.
He thanked Diri and members of the state executive council for taking what he described as a quantum leap in Nigeria beyond the oil project of the Federal Government.
