By Our Reporter
No fewer than 100 youths in Uburu, Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi were on Saturday trained on agribusiness and mentorship by Uburu Amaka Humanitarian Organisation.
The Executive Administrator of the organisation, Mr Nicholas Onu, said that the programme was aimed at transferring modern agricultural skills to the young people of the area.
Onu said that the training was in collaboration with Globetrot Farmsponsor Nigeria Limited.
He said that the overall aim was to empower youths from the area to ensure that they were self-reliant.
He appealed to corporate organisations and well meaning individuals to contribute their quota in job creation as the government could not do it alone.
Onu said that the programme was a follow up from a youth summit which took place in the area in January 2021.
“It is our plan to collaborate with equitable organisations to transfer skills and mentorship to young people of Uburu,” he said.
Onu appealed to the state government and other stakeholders to assist the organisation to raise the resources needed to execute some of their programmes.
Also, the Chief Executive Officer, Globtrot Farmsponsor Nigeria Ltd., Mr BillKeneth Akpa said that the training was part of the corporate social responsibilities of the organisation.
Akpa said that their aim was to ensure that young people in the area were directed to the best way possible to make a good living.
“Youths shy away from farming because they feel that agriculture is dirty and tedious.
“However, technology has made farming much easier for one to get up to 300 per cent return on investment,” Onu said.
In a goodwill message, the Commissioner for Business Development, Dr Steven Odo appealed to the participants to focus on the different value chains in agribusiness.
Odo said that the state government had comparative advantage in agriculture following its abundant human and natural resources.
The commissioner said that the state government had a deliberate policy to promote agriculture and youth empowerment in the state.
He said that as a policy thrust of the state government, every political appointee must have a known role in agriculture.
“That is what we call ‘One Man, One Hectare Land Policy’. As a government appointee, you have to show that you are promoting government policy on agriculture,” Onu said.
