Nigeria Must Harness Youth Potential For Food Sovereignty — IFAD

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has stated that Nigeria cannot achieve its food sovereignty dream without fully harnessing the potential of its youth.

IFAD Country Director, Dede Ekoue, stated this in Benin, Edo State capital on Thursday at the 5th Supervision Mission of a Federal Government, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), and IFAD—Lifelihood Improvement Family Enterprises Niger Delta (LIFE-ND) Project.

Ekoue said LIFE-ND was conceived to empowering the youth and women with practical skills in agric business in the Niger Delta region.

The Country Director revealed that IFAD invested over $30million in the first phase of the project with over 26,000 beneficiaries.

“We are talking about agric food system transformation; it is a key topic on the global platform and food sovereignty cannot be achieved without fully harnessing the potential of the youth in agric. Youth has the largest population,” Ekoue said.

He stressed that creating jobs for youths is the key to enabling growth, saying, “it is the key to peace; it is the key to development; it is the key to business growth.”

The country director added that LIFE-ND also emphasises on women, saying they are key to food transformation, sovereignty and proper nutrition.

On his part, National Coordinator, LIFE-ND, Dr. Abiodun Sanni, said the first phase of the programme covering six states of Ondo, Edo, Abia, Bayelsa, Cross River and Delta had 26,470 beneficiaries comprising young agro entrepreneurs, youths, women, and persons with disability along different commodities for value chain.

Sanni, while expressing his commitment to actualising the transformative agenda of the project, which he said aligns with the President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, disclosed that 4,380 beneficiaries were currently being enlisted in this ongoing phase.

Representative of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Stella Manureh, described the LIFE-ND project as the Commission’s shared commitment to improving lives of the Niger Delta people through food security.