FUNAAB, IITA partner to tackle unemployment

As part of efforts aimed at promoting youth entrepreneurship and provide employment in agricultural sector, the Empowering Novel Agri-Business Led Empowerment (ENABLE), Nigerian team, from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, is partnering the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), to achieve the aim.

The Director General of ENABLE, represented by Mr. Zoumana Bamba, said the project was aimed at engaging Nigerian youths in agriculture. He noted that out of 70m Nigerian youths, between the ages of 15 and 34, 12.8 million are unemployed (as at March, 2016), while about 15million are underemployed.

Zoumana added that the ENABLE youth programme entailed a collaboration between the African Development Bank (AfDB) and IITA, having about 30 African countries, participating in the programme, which is aimed at agribusiness creation, job creation and ensuring gender balance with five years project duration, involving graduate youths and an incubation period for the programme of between 12 to18 months.

The Vice Chancellor of FUNAAB, Professor Olusola Oyewole, who is also the President, Association of African Universities (AAU), had applauded the team for its concerted efforts at engaging youths in agriculture.