Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani-Bello, has reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to boosting agricultural activities that will enhance youth empowerment in the state.

He stated this at the graduation ceremony of the Green House Project trainees on Tuesday at the Justice Idris Legbo International Conference Center, Minna.

The governor said deliberate and conscious steps were been taken for the provision of conducive platform for youth empowerment through agricultural activities that the state has comparative advantage over other states of the federation.

Elated by the commitment exhibited by the first set of trainees of the Green House project in the state, the governor announced the release of N100,000 as a starter pack to each of the 67 graduands to enable them embark on their personal agricultural businesses.

Governor Sani-Bello said that the aim of the starter pack was part of the state government support and encouragement to youth in order to allow them gain more interest in agriculture and to enable them start agricultural businesses of their own.

“As a form of encouragement to these trainees and others who will follow, we shall give each graduand the sum of N100,000 as a starter pack to enable them start something no matter how small.”

The Governor who reiterates that his administration would continue to engage in youth empowerment and other activities that would boost agriculture in the state also assured that the state government would continue to do its best to ensure the continuity of the project.

According to the governor, “This is the beginning of a dream come true. One of the priorities of this administration was to ensure that we boosted our agricultural potentials and at the same time we engage our youths to find something doing that will change their lives and earn a living. To that end, we decide to start the Green House Project and it has grown to the extent that it has trained the youths we are seeing here today.

“As a government, we will continue to engage in activities that will boost your (youth) potentials in agriculture. We will continue to train people in the agriculture sector and I hope farmers and youths will embrace it.”

Governor Sani-Bello stated that in future, the state government would look into how to support and engage civil servants and retirees to set up their businesses.

He commended the Coordinator, Niger State Green House Project, Hajiya Hadiza Idris Kuta, and the state Ministry of Agriculture and all those that had been working behind the scene for their relentless effort to ensure the success of the project.

He then urged the beneficiaries to share the knowledge and skills they have acquired from other people in their communities so that more people will benefit from the initiative and take it as a form of business.

Earlier, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Alh. Haruna Nuhu Duku, said that the Green House project is one of the project in Governor Sani-Bello’s administration given priority in order to boost the economy of the state.

The Commissioner, who disclosed that the project started at Minna Airport City Maikukele, said the 67 trainees were trained within 6 months to impact in them, knowledge of all-round season farming and groomed enough in technicalities of establishing and sustaining a greenhouse farm.

The beneficiaries were said to be drawn from the 25 local government areas of the state and the target is that at the end of 2018, 250 individuals should be trained.

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