No fewer than 9, 154 beneficiaries have benefited from training programmes designed to empower youths under the Delta State Job and Wealth Creation Bureau since 2015, Chief Job Creation Officer, Prof Eric Eboh, has said.
The programmes include the Youth Agricultural Entrepreneurs Programme (YAGEP), Skills Training Entrepreneurship Programme (STEP), Graduate Employment Enhancement Programme (GEEP) and Production and Processing Support Programme (PPSP).
According to Prof. Eboh, YAGEP has trained 1,776 youths, STEP has 5,051, GEEP 170 youths, while PPSP has supported 2,157 youths, making a total of 9,154 beneficiaries.
Addressing the beneficiaries weekend at a one-day Farm Enterprise Training in Asaba, the Delta State capital, Prof. Eboh said the programme has made youth agricultural entrepreneurs better than they met them.
The programme with the theme, “Managing Your Farm Enterprise: The Critical Dos and Don’ts,” was attended by 254 YAGEP beneficiaries enrolled into the 2022 cycle in Crop, Fish and Poultry Farming.
He noted that the direct beneficiaries of job creation programmes since 2015-2023 are all recognised and documented.
Eboh disclosed that before the programme in 2015, a survey which gave the Okowa administration insight into youth participation in agriculture was carried out by the Okowa administration.
Prof. Eboh harped on the need for beneficiaries that have not registered their farm as a business entity/name to do so.
His words, “No serious business can fund itself and can operate on its own. Loan is not evil. Loan is the oil that oils the business
“I would like us to open up in this workshop, don’t hold back, adopt the mindset of a missionary to impact and create value in the lives of the beneficiaries”.