Youth empowerment: FCTA, Foundation to boost modern agro skills

By Stanley Onyekwere

To bolster youth empowerment, the FCT Administration has declared political will to continue supporting the FCT/Leventis Center for Integrated Agricultural Development and Training ,Yaba, in Abaji Area Council for the training of youth in modern agricultural practices.
The FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello stated this when he paid a visit to the Center, which is managed by the Leventis Foundation.
Bello while commending the passion of the Chairman, Leventis Nigeria, Mr Ahmed Mantey, towards improving the training centre, stressed that the school should enroll more students.
He noted that :”The school was established to teach and develop our youth, men and women from all the six Area Councils and indeed across Nigeria.
“So, I think we have to think of tripling the number of people we have here because there are so many people who need the support.”
The Minister adds: “We will work with you closely because what you are doing here is great and it is going to be the foundation of what we all stand for, especially our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, who always says we have to eat what we grow and we have to grow what we eat”.
Bello who alluded to an agricultural revolution in the country, said Nigeria was now self-sufficient in a number of grains and have potential also to be self-sufficient in so many things.
Earlier, the Chairman, Leventis Foundation Nigeria, reiterated that the Foundation will continue to work to promote sustainability in agriculture and food production in Nigeria and beyond through training, offered by the Foundation, on sustainable agriculture.
He noted that, the Minister’s presence at the school was a clear demonstration of his commitment to youth development, grassroots empowerment as well as poverty alleviation.
“Our approach has been to attract youth into agriculture and equip them with the necessary skills for producing food and for earning sustainable livelihood,” he stated.
He therefore assured the Minister of the Foundation’s dedication to providing quality training in agricultural businesses for people in the FCT while also commending him for exemplary leadership as demonstrated by the rehabilitation of the bridge at Ashara Wako and the road improvement works as well as ensuring that the counterpart funds that are due to the training institute were duly paid.
Our correspondent reports that the Minister who was in company of the Permanent Secretary and other senior officials of the FCTA took an extensive tour of the Centre.