Featured
Youth Development Will Grow Nigerian Economy-Minister
Joel Ajayi
Minister of Youth and Sports Development Mr. Sunday Dare has declared that the Federal Government is totally committed to the development of the Youth as a panacea to national economic growth.
Speaking in Lagos during an interactive session with Youth Correspondents, Mr. Dare said “Part of the ways we have also responded on youth development is pursuing our guiding document, which is the National Youth Policy with a five-year plan and commitment to providing employment and opportunities for our youths, particularly political participation.
“The issue of youth development stands on three legs: education, employment, and entrepreneurship.
“Education is now beyond tertiary certificates. In today’s economy, vocational/technical education is crucial to the other two, generating employment and turning our youths into entrepreneurs. And that is our focus as a ministry in conjunction with other agencies on vocational and technical training,”
He reeled out some of the youth programmes undertaken by the Digital Skills, Employability, Entrepreneurship and Leadership (DEEL) initiative to include 75,000 youths trained this year via an online platform in partnership with IBM, another round of training in partnership with AFDB called coding for employment across 15 centers in the country, and training in conjunction with Microsoft and Google to train young business owners on management skills, among others.
Mr. Dare assured that “Most of the initiatives will impact positively on the youth with long term effect on their wellbeing and development. We have identified key developmental elements that if properly harnessed will change the trajectory. “
Agriculture
Group calls for improved agriculture innovations to boost food security
Mariam Sanni
A Non Governmental Organization, NGO in the agricultural sector, Self Help Africa, SHA has called for improved agricultural innovations to enhance food security and support farmers.
The Country Director, Joy Aderele made this call during in a media chat at the National Mid-term review for the abatement of short-lived climate pollutants in Nigerian Agricultural sector project held in Abuja .
According to her, a recent learning visit revealed that many innovative solutions exist in institutes but are not reaching farmers.
She added that there is a need for policies that would enable researchers in the agricultural sector to disseminate their innovations more effectively.
She emphasized the need for a protocol that allows researchers to share their work without fear of it being taken over is emphasized.
“So we just returned from a learning visit last week, where we had gone to some institutes, great institutes across the country, and I was surprised and amazed to see that we have a lot of innovation sitting in this institute, professors that have done a lot of things that will even make us not to have any issue a young guy in Nigeria. But this learning or innovation is not trickling down. People don’t know about it. The average farmer in my village does not know about the innovation.
“ So I would say that one thing that the ministry should do is to bring up this protocol that enable researchers in the agri space to disseminate their their data, their innovation freely so that farmers and our food security can improve,” she stated.
Aderele highlighted the major achievement of reducing bush burning among farmers, which improves soil and environmental health.
She explained that the promotion of climate-smart agriculture has led to higher crop yields, benefiting farmers and the community.
According to her, Post-harvest losses have been reduced, with rice residue now used to make briquettes, providing an additional income source for farmers.
The country Director said awareness of climate change has increased among farmers, leading to a shift away from traditional, harmful practices like bush burning.
Aderele revealed that the current pilot project in Benue state is aimed to be replicated across all 36 states and the FCT in Nigeria.
She noted that the organization has worked with over 500,000 small farmers globally, with a focus on making farming attractive to young people.
She added that the organization plans to share the lessons learned from the pilot project to improve farming practices nationwide.
The Director, department of agriculture land and climate change management device, Federal Ministry off Agriculture, Muhammed Bello emphasized the importance of sustainable land management for food security and the government’s goal of ensuring healthy soil for farmers.
He surged that the project on abatement of short-lived climate change pollutants is highlighted as a key initiative to clean up and fertilize the land.
He explained that the collaboration is aimed to replicate the project’s achievements and expand its reach across Nigeria, ensuring that more farmers benefit from healthy soil.
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