Godwin Emefiele, the Central Bank
of Nigeria (CBN) governor has said that the federal government is set to
provide 360,000 jobs in the agriculture sector for youths nationwide.
Emefiele disclosed this at a
stakeholders’ meeting on the operational framework for the Accelerated
Agricultural Development Scheme (AADS), under which the jobs will be created.
He said AADS was targeted
primarily at unemployed youths between the ages of 18 and 35.
Emefiele said through the scheme,
a minimum of 10,000 youths in each state, willing to engage in sustainable and
profitable activities along the agriculture value chain, would be employed and
trained.
“I believe we are on the verge of
something very significant with the AADS.
“This scheme has been designed to
create an ecosystem with the active participation of the public sector, state
governments and the private sector,’’ he said.
Emefiele said the objectives of
AADS included the creation of economy of scale of farming on contiguous land.
“It will also assist farmers in
embracing modern farming practices, such as use of tractors and irrigation
schemes.
“It aims to reduce cost of production
with availability of high quality inputs at competitive prices and lowering
delivery cost of extension services,’’ he explained.
Emefiele said that state
governments were expected to provide contiguous arable land, basic
infrastructure, more efficient extension services, training and mentoring of
the beneficiaries.
“The CBN on its part will provide
financing at single digit interest rates.
“Beneficiaries are not expected
to come up with any physical collateral but they must be grouped into formally registered
cooperatives and cross-guarantee each other.
“All loan beneficiaries must also
have valid Bank Verification Numbers (BVN), which will be registered on the
National Collateral Registry and used to track repayments and also blacklist
any defaulters”, he added.
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