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.
