Youth unemployment will be over in Delta soon – Uduaghan

The Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, said on Saturday that the monster of youth unemployment confronting the nation would soon be a thing of the past in the state.
Governor Uduaghan, who offered the glimmer of hope on unemployment during the 8th convocation ceremony of the Delta State University, Abraka, also used the occasion to warn governorship aspirants for the 2015 polls to pursue their ambitions peacefully, devoid of violence.
He congratulated the graduands and assured them that with the Delta Beyond Oil programmes of the state government, a lot of private investors were coming into the state, who are providing job opportunities.
Dr. Uduaghan observed: “We have unemployment challenges in the world, not only in Delta State and Nigeria, but with the Delta Beyond Oil, our people are keying into the non-oil sector to become employed and employers of labour.”
The governor explained that the Delta Beyond Oil initiative was designed for the Delta State economy to be private-sector driven and ensure that unemployment was reduced to the barest minimum.
According to him, the scheme has started offering job opportunities for young graduates and entrepreneurs and in the future guarantee sustainable means of livelihood and address the challenge of unemployment.
Governor Uduaghan, who is the visitor to the Delta State University, pleaded with governorship aspirants to go about their ambitions with all sense of responsibility and avoid acts and utterances capable of overheating the system.
Dr. Uduaghan emphasised that he was not against the ambition of anyone but that as the chief security officer of the state, he would not sit idly and allow any politician to tamper with the peace and security in the state, which his administration laboured hard to secure.
He assured the people of Delta State that his administration would sustain the tempo of security activities in the state until every criminal and those with criminal intentions relocated from the state.
The governor warned criminals and those with criminal intentions to be positively engaged because his administration, which has peace and security on the front burner of its three-point agenda, has no place for criminal elements.
He said: “We will not sleep till criminals are removed from all parts of Delta State.”
Dr. Uduaghan thanked the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the University, Tony Elumelu, for the transformation being witnessed in the University and his interest in investing and attracting investment to Delta State.
He noted that Elumelu has contributed immensely to the absorption of the unemployed by the private sector.
He also congratulated the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Eric Arubayi, for effectively managing the affairs of the multi-campus institution for the past five years and also stamping out cultism from the school.
Elumelu, at the occasion, thanked Governor Uduaghan’s administration for his interest in the development of the education sector, disclosing that the Tony Elumelu Foundation was also in the vanguard of the development of the sector.
Prof. Arubayi, in his address, had said that 8,049 students obtained the bachelors degree and diploma certificate, while 2,166 had masters and doctoral degrees for the 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 sessions.
“The Delta State University through the unflinching support of the Visitor, His Excellency, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, has successfully scaled through the accreditation of the National Universities Commission and with the result, the university has 93 per cent overall accreditation performance,” Prof. Arubayi disclosed.