By Gabriel Enogholase
BENIN—MANAGEMENT of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, yesterday in Benin, Edo State, said beneficiaries of the NDDC Technical Aid Corps, NTAC, scheme will be paid a monthly allowance of N30, 000 each for the next two years.

Besides, no fewer than 2,000 benefiting graduate youths from the Niger Delta region are to undergo one month re-orientation course on work ethics, after which they will be posted to small and medium scale companies.
Companies who enlist the services of the beneficiaries, according to the NDDC, are to pay an additional allowance of not less than N15, 000, monthly.

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Commission, Mr. Chibuzor Ugwuoha, who disclosed these while inaugurating the 120 NTAC employees from Edo State said that the scheme would provide a pool of employable graduates for the real sector of the economy and create multiplier effect.

He said the NTAC scheme is one of the Commission’s strategies towards reducing unemployment and youth restiveness, a twin factor he identified as “grave challenges” facing the Niger Delta region.

Mr. Uwuoha, whose address on the occasion was read by the Commissioner representing Edo State on the board of the NDDC, Mr. Donald Omorodion, said the scheme was also aimed at providing transitory employment for the unemployed graduates with specialized skills in finance, accounting, engineering, ICT, medical sciences, law, marketing, communications, foreign languages and science education.