EU floats oil mill, cassava plants to boost businesses in N’Delta
The European Union has opened some oil mills, cassava processing plants and other livelihoods initiatives to boost small businesses and uplift livelihoods in some communities in the Niger Delta region. The Consortium Manager, Search for Common Ground, Mr Chorbe Joshua, who disclosed this during the ‘Project Close-Out and Dissemination of Endline Evaluation Meeting’ with the […]
Niger Delta Stakeholders Forum (NDSF)
The European Union has opened some oil mills, cassava processing plants and other livelihoods initiatives to boost small businesses and uplift livelihoods in some communities in the Niger Delta region.
The Consortium Manager, Search for Common Ground, Mr Chorbe Joshua, who disclosed this during the ‘Project Close-Out and Dissemination of Endline Evaluation Meeting’ with the stakeholders in the region in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, said their target is 66 communities across Bayelsa, Rivers and Delta states.
Joshua, who stated that its project ‘Community Approach to Transforming Violence and Criminality in the Niger Delta’ which is funded by the European Union, with the support of its three implementing partners, including; Search for Common Ground, PIND and SDN, is to boost the economic lives and reduce violence in the region.
He said the idea of the economic enhancement projects is to engage youths from the region in some livelihood interventions to curb violence, conflicts and restiveness in the region.
He stated that viable projects such as the cassava processing plant, the palm mill and the rest have lifted the communities and discouraged them from any action that threatened peace.
He said: “Coming up with the livelihoods interventions, communities will be able to sustain those gains, for example, a cassava processing mill, the by-product from the plant can be used for starch, can also be used for feed production, and then we have a speed boat, communities that are using speed boat are also supporting other peace building intervention within their community with the proceeds generated from that initiative.”
Also Speaking, Mr Onnu James Udalor, Director of Operation, Search for Common Ground representing Country Director, said the project has three implementing programmes have been working in the three states of Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers, to transform criminality and the way people deals with conflicts from the adversarial ways to collaborative ways.
Other stakeholders who spoke, including traditionalists, retired security personnel among others commended the efforts of the European Union for fostering peace in the region.