NDE disburses loans to 108 agri-biz trainees in Borno

The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in Borno State, under its Rural Employment Promotion, has disbursed loans of N100,000 each to 108 youths and women who were trained on Sustainable Agricultural Development Training scheme and Graduates of Agricultural Science to practice what they learned. Speaking during the disbursement of the loans yesterday in Maiduguri, the […]

The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in Borno State, under its Rural Employment Promotion, has disbursed loans of N100,000 each to 108 youths and women who were trained on Sustainable Agricultural Development Training scheme and Graduates of Agricultural Science to practice what they learned.

Speaking during the disbursement of the loans yesterday in Maiduguri, the Director-General of NDE, Abubakar Nuhu Fikpo, said the trainees were trained in various aspects of modern agricultural production for a period of three months with two weeks of experiential training in both livestock and crop production.

They were trained in poultry production, cattle fattening, sheep and goat rearing and horticulture and dry season farming among others.

Fikpo said the programme is an agricultural production and distribution system that would help to provide more profitable farm income, promote environmental stewardship and enhance the quality of life for farmers and their communities

Represented by the State Coordinator of NDE Mairo Betara Aliyu, Fikpo explained that the target groups comprise all unemployed youth, from school leavers to graduates of tertiary institutions, with a passion for agriculture as an enterprise.

“The management of NDE has approved the loan packages of N100, 000 each to 108 participants in four different schemes of agriculture,” she stated.

She gave the breakdown of the beneficiaries as 24 from Sustainable Development Empowerment Scheme, 24 for the Graduates Agricultural Empowerment Scheme, 39 for Agricultural Enhancement Scheme and 21 for Community Based Agricultural Empowerment Scheme.

She told the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the loans by embarking on the various agricultural programmes to create personal wealth and also become employers of labour in their respective communities as well as remit the loans at the agreed time.

In his remark, Borno State Commissioner of Youth and Sports, Seyinna Buba, thanked NDE for empowering numerous youths with various skills to become self-reliant and complement the efforts of the state government to mitigate the menace of unemployed young men and women in the state.

Buba also promised to provide the beneficiaries with state government’s support of additional loans of between N250,000 and N400,000 for their commitment and resilience during the 3-month training.

“We are distributing the COVID-19 loans forms to the participants as an additional advantage to give then enough capital to start their business. We also call on other non-governmental organizations that are training Borno youths to always provide starter packs for the trainees to have a good footing,” she stated.

A beneficiary, Esther Waziri, who spoke on behalf of the participants, thanked NDE for the intervention and assured that they would not disappoint the government. She said already, many of the participants have commenced their respective projects.”