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| Farmer trained on Piggery receives piglets |
Elochukwu Benjamin
Awka
The two hundred beneficiaries of the Renewed Hope Agricultural Support Program of Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu in Anambra State, were on Wednesday, presented with various empowerment items to advance the knowledge the recently garnered during a two-day training.
Recall that the beneficiaries who are farmers in the state, were trained at the Anambra State Polytechnic in various areas, including Feed processing, vegetable farming, drip irrigation installation, and piggery.
The Renewed Hope Agriculture Support Program is a medium-scale agro support initiative that targets individuals who have the right passion to venture into lucrative agro-businesses.
Presenting the empowerment items at the Governor’s Lodge, Amawbia, on behalf of Nigeria’s first lady, the wife of Anambra State Governor, Mrs Nonye Soludo noted that the beneficiaries were selected through a transparent, random process, that took note of individual criteria for the training and empowerment programs.
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| Mrs Soludo handing over the items |
She noted that the selection criteria for the programme were carefully run through to ensure equal representation of different women groups, youth organizations, political associations, and school clubs.
According to her, the training modules offered the beneficiaries the platform to learn, develop, and become financially sustained, and following up strictly on the programme by the First Lady, the state has ensured that every one of them gets worthwhile empowerment.
She maintained that economic empowerment remains a core objective of the Renewed Hope Initiative, through the initiative, both women and youths across the six geopolitical zones have been empowered to support the economic reforms of the President Bola Tinubu administration.
“We recognize that empowering women and youths economically is not just a moral imperative but a strategic one. When women and youth thrive, their families thrive, and by extension, our communities and the nation prosper.
“As you go back home today with these valuable items, I urge you to make the best use of them. You have been empowered for a particular purpose, and we expect you to make that purpose count.
“What you are going home with today is not to be sold or used for something different from the objectives of the program. So you must use them wisely and work harder to make the best benefits from them.
“The expectation is that you will not just become employed but ultimately lead a network of people who would find an exemplary impact from your businesses. We have trained you. Now, it is your turn to train others. Like that, we can end unemployment and poverty, build financial independence, create better income platforms, raise financial growth, and grow our economy,” she said.
Earlier, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr Afam Obidike, while noting that the initiative was an empowerment that will produce results in the efforts at transforming Agriculture in the state, said the beneficiaries will be monitored to ensure that they appropriately deploy the empowerment tools and knowledge garnered.
Obidike recalled that the Anambra State Governor’s wife had last year, launched the school garden initiative in over 300 schools across the state, adding that 10 schools will be empowered with take-off tools.
For her part, what the State Government is doing in the area of agriculture was to actually teach the people how to fish, instead of giving them fish.
She noted that the Farm-to-Feed initiative of the governor’s wife, through which over ten thousand seedlings of various crops have been distributed, is presently putting food on the table of many families today.
Some beneficiaries, Queen Anigbogu, Raphael Onwughalu, Udeozor Chinyere and Hillary Obiajulu, whose joys knew no bounds, said the empowerment tools will greatly help their practices.
They vowed to deploy the knowledge garnered and the empowerment received to contribute in their own way, towards addressing the challenge of food security in the state and the nation.
The governor's wife distributed the empowerment items and gave some cash support to the beneficiaries, which formed the high point of the ceremony.
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