…NYSC DG urges youth to embrace agribusiness
The Leventis Foundation Nigeria has said that 90 corps members have undergone agribusiness training and internship across its schools in the country.
The Executive Director of the Foundation, Hope Usieta, said this in Abuja during the third edition of the Agricultural Youths Summit organised in collaboration with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
Usieta said that 40 corps members had already completed the training, while 50 were presently undergoing the same training in its LFN schools.
He stated, “I commend LFN’s partnership with NYSC through its Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Department (SAED) because it has provided us with the opportunity to reach out to more youths. Through the LFN-SAED partnership, 40 corps members have undergone agribusiness training and internship across LFN’s schools, and about 50 are currently undergoing agribusiness training across Leventis Foundation Nigeria training schools.”
He added, “As you may be aware, Leventis Foundation is the foremost organization dedicated to sustainable agriculture and youth development through the training offered to youths and farmers across Nigeria in various aspects of agriculture and agribusiness across our 6 training centers.
“Despite various interventions in the agricultural sector, there’s no doubt that challenges still abound. Hence, there’s a critical need to do more to advance the needed solutions.
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“One of such challenges is the limited access to Agri finance experienced by small holder farmers and their preparedness to receive finances.
“For Nigeria, with a share of agricultural gross domestic product, raising agricultural investment for increasing productivity and ensuring food security constitutes an important policy instrument for meeting the SDGs.”
The Director-General of NYSC, Brigadier General Olakunle Nafiu, urged Nigerian youths to embrace agribusiness as a prerequisite to ending the country’s food insecurity and unemployment.
Nafiu, who was represented by the Director, Ventures Management at NYSC, Abe Dankaro, said the event comes at a critical time when Nigeria is grappling with both high youth unemployment and rising food security concerns.
According to him, the agricultural sector presents huge opportunities for innovation, job creation, and national development—particularly when driven by the energy and creativity of young Nigerians.
He stated, “Nigeria is confronted with the dual challenge of high youth unemployment and growing concerns over food security. Yet, in every challenge lies an opportunity, and that opportunity is agribusiness—a sector rich in potential but in need of young minds to drive its transformation.”
He noted that NYSC’s collaboration with Leventis has helped build a new generation of “agripreneurs” equipped not only for farming but also for entrepreneurship.
“This is not just about farming; it is about building a generation of self-reliant, job-creating, and economically empowered youths who will take agriculture to new heights of innovation and enterprise.
“See yourselves not as job seekers, but as nation builders armed with knowledge, resilience, and purpose,” he stated.
On his part, the Chairman of LFN, Ahmed Manti, emphasised the need for improved access to agricultural financing to support smallholder farmers and scale youth-led agribusinesses in the country.
He said, “One of the major challenges we continue to observe is limited access to agri-financing and the preparedness of smallholder farmers to secure such funding,” he said. “Strengthening investment in agriculture is a key policy tool for boosting productivity and achieving food security in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.
“We believe this summit will continue to strengthen the agricultural ecosystem and drive economic development.”
