By Richard Akintade, Osogbo
The Director General of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Mallam Abubakar Nuhu Fikpo, has assured Nigerians, most especially, all unemployed persons, that the NDE is committed to provision of adequate training opportunities for productive self employment, successful entrepreneurship and agro allied business ventures.
The NDE DG gave the assurance while speaking in Oshogbo, the Osun State Capital, through the NDE State Coordinator, Mr Julius Fakunle at the commencement of a five-day intensive skills acquisition training on goat production for 50 selected participants in the state and 900 beneficiaries across the 18 states of the federation.
According to him, “goat production is an economically viable business venture, because its value chain for commercial production has great employment potentials,as well as, a good source of meat, milk, hide and skin, and fertilizers from dropping.
He emphasised that the engagement of unemployed youths in goat production business, along its value chain, plays an important role in socio-economic, and religious life of the farming communities, in terms of income and supply of food for the local population and the country at large.
Mallam Fikpo said the NDE would continue to stimulate the interest of all unemployed youths particularly in farming and replace age long farming methods with modern techniques of agriculture for income earning, improve the livelihood of the rural populace.
He said the schem will also create employment, reduce rural urban migration, enhance the protein in take of the people as well as provide raw materials for leather manufacturing industries.
The NDE boss also assured that the Directorate would continue to sustain its policy of providing enabling environment for youths involvement in sustainable agricultural programmes, provision of agric in puts and credit facilities, with 9% interest rate, towards attainment of food security.
He enjoined all other categories of unemployed persons in the state of Osun to avail themselves of job opportunities offered by the NDE through its innovative programme delivery and activities in the state.
Also speaking at the occasion, the Director of Rural Employment Programme (REP), NDE HQs, Dr. Michael Mbata, represented by Mrs. Tola Olaoye, enjoined the trainees to consider themselves lucky to be shortlisted among thousands of interested unemployed persons in the state while noting that NDE interventions has assisted the nation in reducing the scourge of unemployment among the teeming youths, women and people with special needs.
The training curriculum is structured to include topics, such as introduction to goat farming, feeding of goat, management of goat, prevention and control of disease, processing/packaging of goat meat, marketing of goat products, among others.
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