Three hundred beneficiaries of a fully sponsored programme in agriculture by the Abia State Government have arrived the CSS Global farms, Nasarawa State, for a two-week training.
Recall that few weeks ago, the State Government had organised a capacity-building seminar for the first batch of the 300 candidates selected for the training.
The founder of CSS Global Integrated farms, Prof. John-Kennedy Opara, had in a presentation titled: ‘Agricultural Development and Food Security – the Path to Human and Capital Resources Development’, said that God had destined Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, OFR, to lay a solid foundation in Abia, upon which those after him will build.
In a brief admonition to the beneficiaries before their departure on Friday morning from Umuahia, the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Pastor Caleb Ajagba, charged the trainees to take the programme seriously, reminding them that they are going to Nasarawa to learn and not on a jamboree or site seeing.
“The Government has paid for each of the 300 beneficiaries going to CSS farms, and you would be exposed to all forms of mechanised farming and the entire value chain of Agriculture.
“You are going there to learn, not on a Jamboree, not on a site-seeing, not just to make up the number of those who are going there,” Pastor Ajagba said.
He reminded the beneficiaries that they are representing Abia State, having gone through a thorough screening process from the Ward to State levels.
The Chief of Staff explained that the training was in line with the vision of the Governor, to make sure that every Abian is taken care of, especially the youth population.
He described the training programme as a lifetime opportunity for those of them that understand the reason why they are going there.
“This is a lifetime opportunity for those of you who understand the reason why you are going there. For each of you, Government has paid money in hundreds of thousands of Naira for you to be there for just two weeks.
“It’s a golden opportunity that many Abians would have loved to have and you are the first set of people that are going there,” he said.
Ajagba explained that the trainees are expected to train others after they are trained. He further explained that upon their return, whatever they are able to produce, the State Government will buy it off from them.
“When they come back, they should be able to teach other people so that that unbroken chain will continue in terms of knowledge acquisition and transfer. We have also told them and made them to realise that upon their return, whatever thing they are able to produce, individually and collectively, Government will buy it off so that they can concentrate in the area of farming, production and making sure that at the end of it all, it’s a very thriving business,” the Chief of Staff declared.
Pastor Ajagba explained that knowledge acquisition is the best form of empowerment, pointing out that if you give somebody one million Naira to start up a business and the person does not have the requisite business skills and knowledge, he or she will end up squandering the money.
According to him, beneficiaries will be given specific grants in several of the areas they are trained in terms of cash, farm implements and other supports needed to start.
Nwahiwe Cleverson Chinonyerem
Information Officer
Government House, Umuahia
June 14, 2024.
