Some youths in the oil rich Niger Delta region have received N.5million each as start up for their individual businesses across the region.
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A total of 90 youths in the Niger Delta have received N500, 000 each to start up their individual businesses at the end of capacity building and empowerment in agriculture and other value chain programme for women and youths, according to DailyTrust.
The programme was organised by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs to enable many more youths acquire skills that will earn them lifetime livelihood.
Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Usani Usani, charged the beneficiaries to invest the funds released to them by the Federal Government judiciously and not on frivolities.
Usani also advised women and youths from the region to take advantage of the numerous entrepreneurial opportunities offered by government to better their lives.
The minister, represented by Ediomu Ebioghe Philip, a deputy director in the ministry, said it was the determination of the ministry to empower women and youths so as to reduce the scourge of hunger and poverty in the region to the barest minimum.
He said, “The ministry is aware that training without support is an effort in futility. Thus the provision of N500,000 to each participant to start their businesses.
“You are advised to utilise the empowerment package to set up enterprises that will stand the test of time, improve your lives and that of your families.
“Therefore, my challenge to you is to practice what you learnt, contribute to the food security of the region and the country at large, build capacity in your community through backward integration and run profitable enterprises. Remember the slogan, ‘Start small and grow.’”
Usani further stated that, “This training and empowerment programme is a continuous exercise. Those who have been agitating for inclusion should be reminded that their voices have been heard.
"They will be considered in the subsequent batches until every Niger Deltan becomes empowered, self-reliant, self-sustaining and self-dependent.”
The 90 graduands drawn from Akwa Ibom, Abia, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Imo, Rivers and Ondo states were trained in capacity building, fishery and poultry.