The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has revealed that three million applicants have registered to chase the 10,000 slots in its internship scheme.
This was revealed Monday, September 23, 2024, when the consultants that handled the building of the Niger Delta youth database submitted their work.
The project aimed at placing 10,000 interns around companies in the region was flagged off on August 5, 2024 in Port Harcourt by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, who was onetime governor of Akwa Ibom State.
Receiving the database on behalf of Samuel Ogbuku, the NDDC Managing Director of NDDC, the Executive Director (Projects), Victor Antai, stated that each intern would receive N50,000 per month for one year, totaling N600,000.
Antai noted that the registration portal for the transformative initiative was closed on August 31, 2024, while the selection process was in progress. He highlighted the scheme’s achievements thus far, noting that over three million applicants registered for the internship programme.
The Executive Director assured that the selection process would be seamless and transparent, noting that the Commission was working round the clock to ensure an efficient and effective delivery for the beneficiaries.
Antai said that NDDC engaged Southbridge Consultants to produce the database and provide an official breakdown of the information from the applicants for a flawless project analysis.
To quicken the selection process, Antai said that the Commission also engaged another consulting firm, Angala Fintech, to oversee the selection of beneficiaries at both the state and local government levels.
He said that the NDDC having received the database from Southbridge consultants, it was necessary to handover the documents for the internship scheme analysis to Angala Fintech, the lead consultant, for further processing.
Antai explained that the NDDC Finance Directorate would be responsible for the disbursement of funds to the selected beneficiaries throughout the internship period of one year, to guarantee that financial support was delivered efficiently.
The NDDC Director of Information Technology, Emeka Ani, an engineer, commended Antai for working tirelessly to ensure that the internship programme was a success.
He commended the CEO of Southbridge Consultants, Dagogo Tolofari, for developing a robust database capable of handling the vast amount of applicant data without any technical issues.
Ani said the Commission was excited at the success of the identity capture that would help in growth. He said the response was overwhelming.
The NDDC CEO had earlier explained that the database would be useful in other selections for other schemes, saying it would ensure that no person would benefit in more than one scheme whereas others had not benefitted once.
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