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25,500 Youths and Women Empowered in Niger Delta Agriculture
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security is empowering over 25,500 youths and women in agricultural entrepreneurship across the Niger Delta states. During a technical session on Group Savings and Loan and Record/Bookkeeping in Owerri, Imo State, National Project Coordinator Dr. Abiodun Sanni shared that the initiative, funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), aims to enhance self-reliance and sustainability in agriculture.
Participants from the six Niger Delta states, including Abia, Bayelsa, Ondo, Cross River, Edo, and Delta, will access a $60 million loan over two phases. Imo, Akwa Ibom, and Rivers states joined the project in 2024, expanding its reach to nine states. The training will focus on various commodities like cassava, plantain, fish, rice, cocoa, oil palm, and poultry, covering production, processing, and marketing.
Additionally, the program emphasizes record-keeping and documentation skills to ensure participants can effectively manage their enterprises. National Financial Inclusion Specialist Obiageli Ekwelie noted that participants will receive training tailored to specific commodities and will learn to operate successful businesses with startup capital, enhancing their saving habits and credit ratings.
TV anchor Rufai Oseni makes headlines as he speaks on fuel subsidy in Nigeria. He shared that Nigeria can have fuel subsidy without the long queues at filling stations.
“When we were still paying subsidies, there were no long queues. We were subsidising. So you can still have a subsidy regime going on, and there will be no long queues because production was close by. Dangote had it. That’s just it. That argument also falls flat.
“The biggest beneficiaries of subsidy are not Nigerians. They are crony capitalists that have big infrastructure, and they do contracts. They have been the biggest beneficiaries of the subsidy,” he said.
Lagos State Governor, Sanwo-Olu, speaks to those in the electricity sector about the usual blackouts in the state.
He speaks on ways things can change in the state and how electricity can be provided.
“We need to drop corporate egos, abandon long-standing excuses, and confront the harsh realities obstructing progress in the power sector.”
“We, state governments, used to give excuses that everything is centralised, so the Federal Government has unbundled it now. What have we done in a year and a half?” Sanwo-Olu asked.
“We take two steps forward, we go five steps backward,” he said.
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has declared Thursday, August 20, a work-free day for public servants in the state to mark the Isese Festival.
Speaking on the celebration, he said “Ìṣẹ̀ṣe is not a relic. It is a living expression of our traditions and a celebration of Yoruba spirituality as an important part of Nigeria’s cultural and religious landscape,” he said.
He added “When the drums sound in Lagos on Thursday, they answer drums in Havana, in Salvador, in Port of Spain. Fifty-five million people and counting. Lagos is not observing a local holiday. Lagos is standing at the centre of a global heritage,” Aregbe said.
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