Friday February 14, 2025 | TheNewsDESK
Akwa Ibom State Government said that the $90m being pumped into the Niger Delta agric sector by the Niger Delta Development Commission and the International Fund for Agricultural Development would create a new economy that would cater for over 22 million youths in the nine states that make up the oil region, reports ThePUNCH.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mrs Rosemary Ubia, stated this during the beginning of the state orientation programme of the NDDC/IFAD/LIFE-ND project.
This was contained in a statement obtained from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Uyo, the state capital, on Thursday.
According to the statement, a total of 4,250 agripreneurs have started training under the programme.
“By focusing on commodities such as oil palm, fisheries, cassava and poultry, this initiative places Akwa Ibom State in an advantageous position, as we are already a major producer of these key agricultural products,” the permanent secretary said.
Ubia who noted that the programme is designed to benefit rural youths, women-headed households, and persons with disabilities, expressed confidence that the event will further amplify the call made by the state governor, Umo Eno, for a renewed focus on farming to boost food sufficiency in the state through support to farmers in the areas of improved inputs and skill gap training.
Each of the nine states of the Niger Delta is bringing 4,250 to the scheme to make it 12,750 in the NDDC and 38,250 overall in all of the nine states of the oil region.
These are the foot soldiers expected to touch the lives of the 22 million youths.
The permanent secretary disclosed that the first batch of beneficiaries consists of 350 trainees (incubatees) and 32 incubators, making 382 overall.
She said she was delighted by the enthusiasm she saw in the participants and commended the state governor for accepting and endorsing the project because it, according to her, aligns with the governor’s ‘ARISE’ agenda.
Speaking in an interview earlier, Ubia told newsmen that agriculture is a major development factor and source of food security policy of the government, adding that the LIFE-ND project targets youths and the vulnerable that must be taken off the street.
The NDDC’s $30m contribution is covering the project which is being executed by the Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises Project in the Niger Delta (LIFE-ND), in three states (Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Imo State), while the IFAD’s $60m covers the other six states.
The IFAD fund is said to be a soft loan to the Federal Government.
The Akwa Ibom State Director in the NDDC, Mr Evong Evong, said the project was aimed at boosting employment in the region.
In his remarks, the National Project Coordinator of LIFE-ND, Dr Abiodun Sanni, who was represented by the Project’s Agric Business Coordinator, Mrs. Antonia Esenwa, said, “This is the orientation aspect while the beneficiaries would move down to the training proper in smaller units.”
