FG to train, empower 10,000 ex-militants in agriculture

 …To create 40, 000 jobs

The Federal Government has disclosed plans to train and empower 10,000 ex-militants in the Niger Delta region on agriculture and its value chain.

According to the federal government, over 40,000 farm workers would be created in 2017 through the training programme.

Brig-Gen Paul Boroh (rtd), Coordinator and Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, who disclosed this to newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday, stated that the office had keyed into the Green Alternative initiative of the Federal Government through a strategic partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Anchor Borrowers programme.

He noted that the Amnesty Office would collaborate with governors of the nine oil producing states, Ministry of Agriculture and National Biotechnology Resource Centre, adding that the training programme would be done in clusters.

Boro pointed out that the office in collaboration with the Bio-resources Development Agency had developed and equipped more than 200 ex-agitators with tools and research mechanism needed in agriculture, stressing that the dynamics of the CBN Anchor Borrowers’ Programme would not only create millions of jobs but was also capable of lifting thousands of smallholder farmers out of poverty.

The Special Adviser urged the governors of the nine oil producing states to assist in integrating trained youths through a sustainable human capacity development and job opportunities.

He said, “Collaborating with the states will serve as a control post that will enable the Presidential Amnesty Office in Abuja to have a firm control of the beneficiaries at the grassroots.”

He noted that President Buhari’s administration was committed to laying a solid economic foundation for the future through mechanized farming, maintaining that the move is tilted towards ensuring that indigenes of the Niger Delta region earned a living rather than beg for it.
He explained that the nation was blessed with arable land that tolerates cultivation for all seasons, adding that he was committed to exploring the agricultural potential of the nation to its maximum advantage.

He taxed the beneficiaries to see agriculture as a primary or secondary means of income in order to generate jobs, wealth and achieve food security for the nation as well as generating foreign exchange through export.

He stressed; “For decades, agriculture has been associated with the production of essential food crops. At present, agriculture above and beyond farming includes forestry, dairy, fruit cultivation, poultry, bee-keeping, mushroom, and arbitrary among others. Today, processing, marketing and distribution of crops and livestock products, etc. are all acknowledged as part of current agriculture. Thus, agriculture could be referred to as the production, processing, promotion and distribution of agricultural products.”

“In addition, to providing food and raw materials, agriculture also provides employment opportunities to very large percentage of Nigeria’s population.”

He noted that approximately 70 percent of the people directly relied on agriculture as a means of livelihood, maintaining that agriculture would contribute to the revenue of Niger Delta region in the nearest future as against its smaller contribution to the region at present.

According to Boro, by the end of 12 months engagement of the beneficiaries, the growth of agricultural sector would contribute to marketable surplus in the region and the nation at large.

He said; “Many people engage in manufacturing, mining as well as other non-agricultural sector as the nation develops. All these individuals will rely on food production that they might meet from the nation’s marketable surplus. As the agricultural sector development takes place, production increases and this leads to expansion of marketable surplus. This may be exported to other nations.’’

“The agriculture sector provides more employment opportunities to the labour force which can reduce the high rate of unemployment in developing countries caused by the fast-growing population,” Boro added.