The Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has pledged funding to train an additional 500 young people in Bayelsa State, expanding a digital skills programme led by SAGE Nexus Hub.
RoundReports reports that the announcement was made on Tuesday at the Chief D.S.P Alamieyeseigha Banquet Hall in Yenagoa during the Bayelsa Creatives Converged (BCC) 2.0 event.
Managing Director of NDDC, Dr Samuel Ogbuku urged Bayelsa youths to seize emerging digital opportunities, saying that many local creatives have built successful careers outside government employment.
“Tech is unlimited. Five hundred people who master it can employ so many more. The opportunities are there, and young professionals must take them,” he said.
The funding adds to the 500 youths already earmarked for free training under SAGE Nexus Hub’s TechForward Bayelsa programme, founded by Onowode Tobore Derick.
Speaking at the event, Onowode stated that artificial intelligence (AI) is now essential for automation, design, analysis and rapid solution development.
“A lot of us think AI is just ChatGPT answering questions, but it can automate your work, help you design, analyse information and scale,” he said, citing his recent use of AI to rebuild a Niger Delta University (NDU) solution in two months, a task that had originally taken eight years.
Onowode added that AI applications span sectors, insisting that tailors, food vendors and digital creators can generate designs, menus, adverts and other business assets within seconds.
He urged young people to move beyond trivial queries and focus on practical, career-enhancing skills.
The next cohort of TechForward Bayelsa training will commence in January 2026, following the completion of the first batch of 50 participants.
Onowode’s goal is to train 500 youths by next year, in addition to the 500 now backed by the NDDC.
SAGE Nexus Hub, located at Tengi Plaza in Yenagoa, provides co-working spaces, space rentals and hands-on technology training, aiming to position Bayelsa within Nigeria’s national tech ecosystem and nurture a new generation of digital innovators.
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