Uche Usim, Abuja
To bridge the poverty gap, FHT Ventures Plc, a Pan-African Housing and Real Estate firm based in Abuja, at the weekend signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Nigerian Youth and Student Coalition (NYSC). The MoU is for the inauguration of Nigerian Youth Project which aims to empower at least 70 million youths in provision of affordable homes and mechanized agricultural businesses.
Speaking at the event, Mr Olubunmi Adewa-Faboro, the Chairman, FHT Ventures Plc, explained that the new initiative, promoted along with offshore partners, will bring investors from all over the world, to explore Nigerian potential and provision of mortgage based affordable homes, and agriculture using the country’s 70 million youths.
Adewa-Faboro, a former Head of Department, Mass Housing and Valuation, at the World Bank, expressed optimistim that the initiative will help tackle the food insufficiency nightmare and provide affordable housing for about 22 million people desperately in need of homes.
The project, he said, centres on the empowerment of the youth in Nigeria between the age of 18 and 45 with the principal aim of bringing investors to Nigeria and making government intervene by providing intervention for project in agriculture and affordable homes provision in the country.
He said: “Its our dream that the youth as we have estimated to be about 70 million in Nigeria, can produce the food not only for Nigeria but for the entire world. And we are starting with cash crops and food exploits. We shall be involved later, with actual arable farming, mechanized one. They will be involved with marketing of food, processing and adding value to whatever they processed. They will also be involved in provision of homes using local building materials and appropriate technology”.
According to him, “we need investors from the whole world to come into this project. We are not putting limit to the capital that is needed. We commend the government for already putting in place intervention funds for affordable homes and agriculture in Nigeria. We want to tap into it” saying, “We want to encourage all the state governors to guarantee whatever we are getting for these youths through the Central Bank and the policies that are already in place. And we believe that this will in a way curb the insurgency in Nigeria, reduce the insecurity among the youths, bring employment to the youth population that is presently yearning for viability.”
The FHT Chairman disclosed that “We are actually talking to NGOs, and charity organizations put in place by most world billionaires. And we are telling them that the issue of food security should be addressed because that will be the major problem of the whole world later. And Nigeria has arable land more than 50% of the land has not been cultivated. And we have viable youth that if empowered can make this possible. We are talking of a county where 22 million people are homeless, affordable homes are essential because people from the age of 18 and 45 sincerely need these shelter”
He vehemently pointed out that, “these NGOs and charity organizations are going to have this things as part of their policies. I am a product of the World Bank, we know who they are, we know where they are”.
“We just want to tell them that we have behind us, 70 million youths in concert we are working with, and when they come they will make the lives of 70 million youths viable. They will produce food for the world, security problem of Nigeria will be cut to minimum. That is the approach,” he added.
In his remarks, me Mumeen Ibraheem, the National President, NYSC, described the initiative as laudable coming at a time it has become critical for the teaming youth of Nigeria to be aggressively emancipated economically.
“The youths comprises a significant proportion of Nigerian population. Thus, this project which seeks to mainstream agriculture and housing in the national economy through the provision for mortgaged based affordable homes and provision of fund for agricultural development involving 70 million youths in the 36 states of Nigeria including Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is an unprecedented development in Nigeria history “
He noted that NYSC is a coalition of Nigerian youth groups, associations and students, adding that the confidence reposed on the youth with the initiative was a testament that youth labour is pivotal to the growth and productivity of the nation’s economy.