The Presidential Amnesty Office has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Songhai Rivers Development Initiative (SRDI) to train 3,105 amnesty beneficiaries in modern agriculture.
The MoU, to be implemented under the Federal Government’s amnesty programme, would lead to the creation of 12,400 jobs in the region, the office said in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.
The Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the programme, retired Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh, signed the MoU on behalf of the Federal Government.
On the other hand, the Coordinator of SRDI Farm, Mr Tamunopriye Jaja, signed for his organisation.
Boroh was quoted as saying that 105 of the beneficiaries would have one hectare of farmland each to be operated on individual basis.
He said, “Three thousand beneficiaries will have farm clusters to be operated as cooperatives.
“The all-round training and empowerment of each beneficiary is designed to enable them employ four persons each in the integrated farms with a capacity to employ 12,400 workers.’’
He listed areas to be covered by the training as aquaculture, agriculture, crop production, agro-and food processing comprising feed formulation and entrepreneurship.
Also, the Farm Business Management would be trained to complete the Agriculture Value Chain, he said.
Boroh added the training would be 75 per cent practical at the end of which successful participants would be jointly certified by Songhai Rivers and the University of Port Harcourt.
According to him, the MoU covers training, establishment of cluster farms, empowerment services and establishment of a market chain.
“The project focuses more on the acquisition and ownership of knowledge of the Songhai model, which is an integrated system that takes into account the interrelationship between environmental resources, agriculture and technology.
“All we are doing is to sustain the reintegration process of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, stabilise the Niger Delta and use agriculture as a mechanism to resolve crisis in the region,’’ he added
He advised the Songhai Initiative to Introduce the military-type philosophy of brotherhood in the project, adding, “If we can live as a family, we can achieve more at a faster pace. ‘’
The SRDI coordinator, Mr Tamunopriye Jaja, said the MoU had provided a framework for Songhai to contribute to peace and security in the Niger Delta.
“It is no longer news that there is a new policy direction in the country tilted towards raising agriculture.
“It is obvious that the demand for oil is diminishing, but agriculture remains a renewable source always in great demand.
“In the 1960s, agriculture was the mainstay of our economy. Today, with the financial constraints, we have to go back to agriculture.
“We are to train and empower the trainees and we have chosen the cluster farm method. We will provide efficient service-delivery; we will work as a team and give our best,” he said.
Jaja explained that MoU was valid for an initial period of 18 months for Agribusinesses training, land acquisition, establishment of cluster farms, Post-Training Empowerment Programme and the establishment of market chain.(NAN)