On Monday, the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) flagged off the Agricultural Enhancement Scheme (AES) for 700 unemployed, trained youth in Taraba.
Relatedly, the Directorate also initiated the orientation for Rural Employment Promotion (REP).
Alhaji Danjuma Shehu, the Taraba state coordinator of the Directorate, noted during the event in Jalingo that the idea was President Bola Tinubu’s, the federal government’s deliberate efforts to ensure the rate of unemployed youth is reduced.
The coordinator expressed that the program aimed to create employment opportunities for unemployed, trained youth in activities such as production, storage, processing, post-harvest handling and preservation, management, agricultural value chain packaging, marketing, agricultural extension, rural sociology, and off-farm activities, as well as other innovative and technologically driven skills in the agricultural sector.
“Today, we are here to flag off the provision of facilities for seven hundred (700) beneficiaries under the 2024 Agricultural Enhancement Scheme (AES). Under this scheme, graduated trainees of various REP Training Schemes will be provided with facilities in the fourteen (14) States of the federation and FCT that will enable them to start up or enhance their off-farm agribusinesses in their chosen areas of interest, become self-employed, create wealth, and generate employment opportunities for others.
“I wish to remind you, the beneficiaries, to see this gesture as a rare opportunity that should not be allowed to fail. First, you have been trained in modern agricultural activities, including off-farm activities and life skills, to be able to overcome the challenges of your immediate environment. Secondly, the facility you are receiving today provides you with the required opportunity for entrepreneurship, and you are expected to utilize the facility and put in your best to succeed as agric entrepreneurs, as NDE attaches a very high premium to the initiative due to its multiplier effect for increased job creation,” the coordinator expressed.
In a related development, Alhaji Shehu expressed during the orientation ceremony of Rural Employment Promotion (REP) program for 48 trained unemployed youth that (REP) program was designed to generate rural employment and improve income through agribusiness engagement, among other measures, to stem the rural-urban drift, improve the income of rural communities, create mass employment, and reduce poverty.
He disclosed that the targeted group for the scheme are graduated trainees of the NDE, Post Sustainable Agricultural Development Training Scheme (POST-SADTS), and other interested youth, while a loan facility of N50,000 each will be disbursed to the 48 beneficiaries to kick start the agribusiness.
“The loan has a moratorium of six (6) months and would be repaid back within the period of two (2) years. The state and headquarters staff will be visiting training outlets to spot-check the training,” Shehu explained.