Charmaine Boois  

MARIENTAL – Hardap governor Riaan McNab has reaffirmed his commitment to using the country’s green hydrogen agenda as a tool to propel long-awaited socio-economic development in the region.

McNab, during his State of the Region Address (Sora) in Mariental on Wednesday, said green hydrogen is the solution to address enduring issues in the Hardap region, including unemployment, poverty, drought and insufficient service delivery.

“Our communities are expecting socio-economic development to curb the issues of unemployment, drought, and poverty. The citizenry of the Hardap region has hopes that the discovery of oil, gas, and green hydrogen will bring them the much-needed relief. We deliberate in using the interest in green hydrogen to stimulate other sectors of our economy and new adjacent industries, including logistics, agriculture, and sustainable manufacturing,” McNab stated.

He urged both the local and regional leadership to work together to ensure that the benefits of the green hydrogen industry reach all the youth in the region to acquire the skills needed to participate in this growing sector.

McNab also encouraged the youth between the ages of 18 and 35 to apply for the Youth for Green Hydrogen scholarship, launched in Gibeon on 2 July. Applications for the scholarships opened on 7 July and will close on 18 July this year.

The forms, he said, are available at the governor’s office and all constituency offices in the Hardap region, noting that the outreach teams from the Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL) and the Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) are currently in the region providing information about the application process at the different constituencies in the region.

The governor stated that their plan as the leadership in the region is to deliver on the theme ‘Unity in Diversity, Natural Resources Beneficiation, and Youth Empowerment for Sustainable Development’ through the Swapo Party Manifesto Implementation Plan.

“We cannot realise the ambitious undertakings contained in our manifesto if we continue to do things in the same manner yet expect different results. We are too few to be poor, and we can eradicate poverty,” stated McNab.

-Nampa