Judex Okoro, Calabar

The Director-General of National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Dr Nasieu Mohammed Ladan, has advocated for a buy-in by willing stakeholders to extend NDE development programmes to rural communities.

Dr Ladan, who made call while delivering his keynote address at the orientation ceremony of the 2019 Sustainable Agricultural Development Training Scheme (SADTS) held in Calabar at the weekend, said the NDE has over the years contributed tremendously to employment promotion through training and development of young people in demand driven skills in the field of agriculture.

“NDE is a open to collaboration with major stakeholders for the onerous task of job creation. I, therefore, call for a buy-in partners in order to extend our programmes to rural communities across the country,” he said.

“The training is aimed at transforming them from being ordinary farmers to agriculturists with modern technological productivity and then to become employers of labour in agricultural sector.”

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He disclosed that a total of 1,800 youths across the country have been recruited and would be trained in useful skills to improve their knowledge in sustanaibake agricultural ventures.

Welcoming the trainees to the orientation exercise, NDE Cross River State Coordinator Mr Gabriel Udah said the emphasis in this year’s training is on poultry and vegetable (market gardening) farming.

Udauh said 50 youths have been selected from the state and would be undergoing three months training at the Agricultural Skills Training Centre at Nde, in Ikom Local Government Area.

The beneficiaries, he added, would first undergo two weeks training in livestock and crop production, with the remaining period used as a demonstration of farm enterprise.

According to Udah, the youths are expected to establish their own farms after the training, thereby creating jobs for unemployed youths in their locality.

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