Ondo State Government has charged beneficiaries of its LIFE-ND project to become entrepreneurs and employers of labour to transform the rural economy in deriving prosperity and equal benefit in the Niger Delta region in Nigeria.
Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises Project for Niger Delta (LIFE-ND) is a project of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) designed in collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as a response to the limited readily available options for “Disadvantaged”youth and women at the rural communities to improve their means of livelihood for decent life.
The State Commissioner for Agriculture and Forestry, Mr Olayato Aribo who disclosed that the state has trained and empowered over 1,000 youths and women, charged beneficiaries to meet the objective and target of the programme.
Aribo spoke in an Interview with The Hope in Akure, saying that another set of 1,000 beneficiaries are undergoing training for year 2023.
He stated that the project is targeted towards improving the livelihood of the beneficiaries, enhance income, food security and job creation for the youths and women.
He urged beneficiaries to see the project as a business and take advantage of it by doing it well, learn well wherever they may be posted to and do the right thing for delivery.
According to him , the state will continue to strive in agriculture and ensure that more youths and women benefit to make life more meaningful to the people.
The State Project Co-ordinator, Mr Olawale Ademola who also spoke with The Hope, disclosed that those already trained and certified have been empowered by government to set up their businesses as entrepreneurs.
” We are engaging another 1,000 beneficiaries this year 2023 and have undergone the orientation /working session in commencement of the training proper,” he said.
He explained that the beneficiaries were taken through four major enterprises, in Cassava, fishery, poultry and cocoa production.
Ademola noted that those undergoing training were given a stipend of N15,000 per month and would later be given working capital in terms of inputs .
For food production, the Co-ordinator said, beneficiaries would be given inputs worth N1.6million, those in Cassava production would get N1.5 million worth of inputs, while the Fish and Cocoa enterprise beneficiaries would take N1million worth of inputs at the end of their training period respectively.
