Central Bank of Nigeria governor , Mr Godwin Emefiele has
explained how President Muhammadu Buhari’s promise to provide 360,000 jobs for
youths nationwide, will be actualised....
Emefiele unfolded at a stakeholders’
meeting the operational framework for the Accelerated Agricultural Development
Scheme (AADS), under which the jobs will be created. He said AADS was targeted
primarily at unemployed youths between the ages of 18 and 35. Emefiele said
through the scheme, a minimum of 10,000 youths in each state, willing to engage
in sustainable and profitable activities along the agriculture value chain,
would be employed and trained. “I believe we are on the verge of something very
significant with the AADS. “ This scheme has been designed to create an
ecosystem with the active participation of the public sector, state governments
and the private sector,’’ he said. Emefiele said the objectives of AADS
included the creation of economy of scale of farming on contiguous land. “It
will also assist farmers in embracing modern farming practices, such as use of
tractors and irrigation schemes. “It aims to reduce cost of production with
availability of high quality inputs at competitive prices and lowering delivery
cost of extension services,’’ he explained. Emefiele said that state
governments were expected to provide contiguous arable land, basic
infrastructure, more efficient extension services, training and mentoring of
the beneficiaries. “The CBN on its part will provide financing at single digit
interest rates. “Beneficiaries are not expected to come up with any physical
collateral but they must be grouped into formally registered cooperatives and
cross-guarantee each other. “All loan beneficiaries must also have valid Bank
Verification Numbers (BVN), which will be registered on the National Collateral
Registry and used to track repayments and also blacklist any defaulters.
Emefiele said that with the release of the operational framework for the scheme,
engagements with stakeholders would be continuous to ensure that the scheme
began during the dry season cultivation of the outgoing year. Also, the
Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, said the Federal Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development would be providing technical support for the
project. “We will be fully involved in the land clearing aspect of the project.
In some places we will also be building dams and lakes to ensure all season
farming. “We will also provide advice because we have a team of experts at the
ministry on crops, soil testing and the right kind of fertiliser so that when
these young people go into agriculture, they won’t lose money,” he said. The
Governor of Kebbi, Mr Atiku Bagudu, thanked the Federal Government for recognising
the significance of agriculture in economic development. “We could not have
recovered from recession as early as we did if not for the intense agricultural
intervention initiated by President Muhammadu Buhari,’’ he said. Bagudu also
stressed the need to involve financial institutions, which banking models
allowed them to support agriculture, for the programme to succeed. NAN
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