By Samuel
The office of the Minister of Youth and Sports Development has concluded plans to empower youths across the federation with agribusiness and crop processing skills.
This project is in line with the Minister, Mr Sunday Dare’s Youth Capacity Building Initiative.
The media office of the minister confirmed this development, noting that the programme will reduce poverty and crime rate among youths aged 15 to 29.
The beneficiaries are to be trained on fish, coconut and general crop processing, in addition to other entrepreneurial skills that would be acquired.
AgroNigeria also gathered that the programme will be piloted in the South-West and North regions from the 7th to 21st of February, 2021.
It will later be extended to the South-East and South-South regions, in due course.
A statement from the minister read, “The objective of the programme is to reduce youth unemployment, poverty, arrest restiveness and harness Nigeria’s comparative advantage in Agriculture.
“The empowerment programme is designed for young people male and female between ages 15-29 as defined by the National Youth Policy.
“Beneficiaries are to be trained in Crop production/processing, Fish preservation/production, Coconut and shea butter production, Entrepreneurial skills. Others are ICT components in Agro-business and Financial literacy.
“The programme is scheduled to hold from 7th February to 21st February 2021 at the National Youth Development Centre, Shere Hills, Jos, Plateau state for participants from the Northern part of the country, and National Youth Development Centre, Owode-Egba, Ogun state for participants from South West.”