ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, Yenagoa
Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has solicited the partnership and support of South Korea in areas of agricultural, maritime and infrastructure development of the state.
He made the request at a meeting with the South Korean Ambassador to Nigeria, Kim Young-Chae, a statement by his media aide, Daniel Alabrah, said on Friday.
Diri said given its maritime similarity with Bayelsa, the state also needed the South Korean expertise and partnership in developing deep-sea fishing, aquaculture and rice cultivation.
The governor said that the state was equally interested in partnership on education, science and technology as well as in oil and gas.
He said his administration pays serious attention to the issue of security as top priority and has conscientiously worked with the security agencies to make Bayelsa and its maritime domain safer than before.
Diri noted that such partnership would help in empowering youths of the state that would be given training in order to check youth restiveness and militancy.
He thanked the ambassador for the warm reception and assured him that he would constitute a team on the part of his government to interface with him and his team.
In his remarks, the South Korean Ambassador, Kim Young-Chae, appreciated the Bayelsa governor for the visit.
Young-Chae said South Korea nationals work with Daewoo, which is located in Bayelsa, and other firms in different states of the Niger Delta.
The envoy, who invited a delegation from Bayelsa to the 2021 Korea oil and gas summit in November, said the state was among six states in Nigeria to benefit from the South Korea government-funded scholarship scheme.