The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has disbursed an N100,000 loan to each of the 42 unemployed youths in Ebonyi to enable them to embark on sustainable agricultural development.
The directorate made the disbursement on Tuesday in Abakaliki at the 2022 Orientation of Loan Disbursement for the beneficiaries.
The loan was earmarked for the beneficiaries of four agricultural schemes of the NDE mainly Agricultural Enhancement Scheme (AES) and Sustainable Agricultural Development Empowerment Scheme (SAES).
The Community-Based Agricultural Empowerment Scheme (CBAES) and the Graduates Agricultural Empowerment Scheme (GAES) are under its Rural Employment Promotion (REP) Department in Ebonyi.
The Director-General of the NDE, Abubakar Nuhu-Fikpo, represented by the state Coordinator, Mr. Don Anaba, said aside from the loan disbursement, 200 unemployed youths were earlier trained on the schemes.
Nuhu-Fikpo noted that the schemes were part of its core programs in generating employment opportunities for unemployed youths in the country.
The director-general said under the empowerment schemes, 200 graduated trainees of REP in Ebonyi were trained in different skills of poultry, fishery, snailry, piggery, crop, and animal husbandry.
“They were also trained in farm management and record keeping, crop processing, packaging, and marketing.
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“Today, 42 of these trainees are being resettled with a loan of N100, 000 each to enable the setting up and management of small-scale agricultural enterprises in their chosen areas of interest to become self-reliance,” he added.
Nuhu-Fikpo urged the beneficiaries to see the gesture as a rare opportunity, which should not be allowed to fail.
“Remember that with the loan facility, you have been empowered,” he advised.
Mr. Edem Duke, Head of REP, Abuja Headquarters, who was represented by an NDE official, Mr. Chimaobi Eleleme, urged the beneficiaries to make good use of the money and invest properly.
Mr. Gabriel Sunday Ozibo, HoD REP in Ebonyi, charged the trainees to utilize the opportunity as it was capable of transforming their lives positively.
Mr. Emeka Okoroafor, Head of Loan Unit, NDE Ebonyi, urged the beneficiaries to also invest properly with the money to enable them to repay.
“I urge you to make good use of the money and invest with it. Establish the business of your choice. Remember it's a loan and not a grant,” Okafor added.
Amos Nnaji, one of the beneficiaries of the loan, thanked the Federal Government and NDE for the gesture and promised to invest and become an employer of labor.
