After months of waiting, the FCT FADAMA Graduate Youth Unemployment Scheme (GUYS) have commenced revalidation on it 117 unemployed graduates, JOHN OBAreports.
Finally, the 117 revalidated FADAMA Graduate Youth Unemployment Scheme (GUYS) are set to receive between N1.2million to N1.6million each after several months of waiting.
It could be recalled that the FCT FADAMA III addition Financing like in other States in partnership with the World Bank in July 2017 as part of it efforts to support the federal government youth in agriculture campaign trained 121 unemployed graduates in different agriculture enterprises but after the training, there was no disbursement.
Speaking at the revalidation exercise of the youth that participated in the training last Tuesday, the State Coordinator, MrSalisuDanladi, said those being revalidated are among those who were successful.
He said FADAMA introduced the program to empower youths roaming the streets in search of jobs. Adding that the programme which was designed to capture most of the youth to take into life of agriculture as graduates.
“The application process was online and electronically controlled. They where trained for two weeks and it cut across all the states across the federation and the FCT.
“The participants being revalidated today are those who were successful in the selection success of unemployed FADAMA youths, however, along the line, some hitches were recorded from last year that delayed the disbursement for them to take off activities. By the grace of God, those hitches have been cleared. Both the Ministries of Finance, Agriculture and World Bank have sorted out the grey areas and the project is now ready for disbursement,” he assured.
He stated further that since the last training has taken some while, it necessary to revalidate these GUYS to ensure that they are unemployed, have visible lands and not just land on paper and are willing to take part in agriculture. Saying the papers of their lands and coordinates will be taken for physical monitoring later.
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“We are now ready to fund the various enterprises. In the FCT, we are looking at 117 participants. They were 121 before, but 4 were either unable to upload their data, are no longer interested, are now employed or might have left the FCT. That means they are honest with themselves and do not want to take somebody else ration. Depending on the individual and enterprise, they will be given between 1.2 million to 1.6 million naira. Each enterprise has a different budget because the inputs and duration are not the same and that’s the reason for the differences.
“The money is a grant to the beneficiaries. The essence is to start them up. They have been trained and will continue to receive training in the different enterprises and become new player start ups where more youths will be employed. When they succeed, they will definitely buy more hands. It is going to generate a lot of activities both on and off shot. This is just about creating a new set of entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector. In the rural areas today, those who are benefiting from agriculture are getting old and they need replacement,” he explained.
Danladi, said youth are needed in agriculture because the sector is becoming technologically driven. “A lot of old farmers cannot comprehend them, so these youths are within the era. The trending technologies are the tools they use everyday, like the smartphones and other applications for information gathering. They are very loaded and we are also trying to introduce them to smart agriculture, not the crude methods of our forebears.
“That way, they will be able to safely replace our ageing farming population, increase productivity and practicality and make sure that the inputs will be acceptable to the markets. In the FCT for instance, the population is cosmopolitan, so the preferences for food items is getting complicated, so you have no option than to raise the standard of the hygiene, packaging and variety. So, we are encouraging the youths to utilize the opportunities coming their way,” he pontificated.
He also promised that the agency will not abandoned the youth, has it will continue to monitor them and provide them with the necessary mentoring, training and linkages.
“We will encourage them by linking them to financial institutions that will sustain their value, because these grant may not be enough to allow them to expand and grow as we envisage them to grow from strength to strength. So, they should be able to access additional financing from agricultural and financial banks. We have taught them on how to prepare viable business plans. That was the first thing. We are now teaching them how to manage it. They will go and do the practical. When they see it, once or twice, they will learn few practical tips on how to manage this resources. That way, they will grow, so we are encouraging them by keeping taps on them,” he said.
Also the FCT Secretary for Agriculture and Rural Development, Hon. Stanley Ifeanyichukwu, addressing the press said the youth farm locations will be monitored through the use of GPRS from by it extension services officers once the money is disbursed.
“There is no location in the 17 communities in the FCT and 6 area councils that we don’t have Agriculture Officer, whether Kuje, Gwagwalada, Kwali, Bwari or AMAC.
“On this project, the only delay we had was with the World Bank putting things in place. The moment they are through, they will go to their headquarters, do the analysis and come back. All these things take time. The assurance of Agricultural and Rural Development under FCT is that we will do our part, like you see us doing, by giving them genuine unemployed graduates, genuine human beings from different localities, genuine participants with the necessary skills, because we have the manpower to train them and we have trained them. We have avalanche of lands which the various chiefdoms have readily given them permissions to access as soon as they get the funds,” he said.
He also assured the World Bank that FCT is ready. “We have the necessary landmark for agriculture and the weather is very favourable in this area of the Middle Belt. We are lucky in the Rain forest and Sahara areas as the weather is favourable both in the wet and dry seasons. So FCT is well positioned for agriculture,” he insisted.
