Kogi State government says it is tackling unemployment challenges in the state by keying into the agricultural transformation agenda of the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
At the commissioning of the Yad 4 Kogi Cassava Processing Centre in Ihima, Okehi Local Government Area (LGA) of the state, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Youth Advancement and Development, Dr Temitope Sinkaye, said that the project was aimed at taking youths off the street.
She said that the state government had increased its involvement in agriculture in the 21 LGAs to ensure food security and positive transformation of Nigerian youths.
Employment opportunities
“The state government intends to use the agro-allied enterprise, which is an arm of my office, for Yad 4 Kogi to reduce unemployment in the state to the nearest level,” Dr Sinkaye explained.
According to her, the main objective of the program is to create employment opportunities for the teaming youths in the state.
“The state government has provided a ready made market for all the products and by-products of Cassava in order to avoid the challenges of post harvest losses,” she said.
She also urged the LGA Chairmen to key into the Agricultural Transformation Agenda.
The program requires that youths in the state form themselves into co-operative groups to enable the state government set up a business of their choice.
The commissioned factory, which cost the state government N2.5 million, produces Gari, Cassava Chips and Cassava Grits in large quantities and has employed over 3,000 youths in the area.
A cooperative society called ‘Evabe’ formed by some youths in Ihima Okehi Local Government Area are already benefiting from the project.
‘Developing Youth’
The coordinator of Evabe Co-operative Society, Mr James Obaro, commended the state government for its readiness to address the challenges facing the state by developing youths through the agricultural program.
“The program has helped to take the youths off the street by engaging them in useful ventures which has kept their minds from negative vices,” Mr. Obaro said.
After the commissioning, the agricultural consultant to Yad 4 Kogi on cassava processing, Ms Rhonas Peters, stated that the people in the area had been trained.