Okwe Obi, Abuja
In its bid to boost agriculture and encourage entrepreneurship, the Canadian government has supported 10,000 Nigerians, mostly from Cross River State, with $15 million (Canadian).
Nigeria’s Country Representative of Cuso International, funded by the Canadian Government, Ebrima Sonko, who spoke at the Youth Leadership Entrepreneurship Access and Development (YOULEAD) Project in Abuja, yesterday, said the scheme started five years ago to reduce the unemployment rate and hinted that 3,500 beneficiaries have been employed.
He said: “Essentially, the programme looks at the natural resources and agricultural sectors and value chains like pottery, fishery and cassava production, processing and distribution. The project valued at 15 million Canadian dollars was funded by the Canadian government through Global Affairs Canada.
“Our interventions are at different levels. The first was the training on entrepreneurship. We trained 10,000 youths and out of that 3,500 have been put in jobs. We do not have the finances to put all of them in jobs and not all the people you trained are meant for entrepreneurship. But the good thing is that once they have that orientation from the training many of them have gone ahead without our funding to start their own businesses.”
The Cuso International Country Representative further explained that, “the programme started five years ago. It was supposed to address key issues found in Cross River State, which were high level of unemployment that was above the national level, close to 40 per cent. The better part was that Cross River State is naturally endowed as the best forest which covers both climate and vegetation. Therefore, we thought it was an advantage and communities were encroaching which were not meeting their livelihoods.
“And there are success stories which we have brought to the donors. It does not matter which state they want to replicate it, we are willing to support the process. Young people do not like agriculture but we know they are not lazy people who don’t want to do something. We have seen a very good response from young people who worked with us. That is why our first training is not restricted to business but changing their mindsets.”