President Nangolo Mbumba says Namibians own 90% of fishing rights in the country, as the government moves to localising resource ownership.
The move aims to benefit the nation’s economy.
“The promotion of Namibianisation is progressing well, and to date, the sector employs about 18,000 Namibians, which is good progress,” said Mbumba while delivering the State of the Nation Address (SONA).
He said the developments are part of initiatives that form part of the second Harambee Prosperity Plan, which deals with Social Progression.
In further efforts to uplift the social status of the people, he said the government successfully implemented the employment redressing programme which provided employment to 2,367 people.
“This is a sustainable job opportunity initiative, addressing the challenges of joblessness experienced by former fishermen since 2015. In addition to job creation to secure livelihoods, the Government facilitated the placement of 1,350 jobseekers in different sectors under the Namibia Integrated Employment Information System,” he said.
To contribute to the social and economic upliftment of the most vulnerable members of society, Mbumba said the Government successfully converted the food bank programme into cash transfers in April 2022.
“The Conditional Basic Income Grant is now being rolled out to existing food bank beneficiaries, covering 8,907 households or 37,519 beneficiaries, at a cost of N$81.3 million per annum,” he added.
Furthermore, the government has allocated N$3.4 billion towards social safety nets in the current financial year. The old age social grant and the disability grant have been further increased from N$1,400 to N$1,600.
Whereas over N$874 million was paid to veterans of the liberation struggle as subventions and for projects.
In 2023, the School Feeding Programme reached 466,860 learners across 1,514 schools, countrywide.
