Mr Afolabi Imoukhuede, the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on job creation, on Monday urged volunteer entrepreneurs to utilise the Federal Government’s Enterprise Empowerment Programme (GEEP) to boost their investments.
He gave the advice in Uyo, while addressing the seven N-Health volunteers at the Akwa Ibom Veterinary Clinic.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that four of the seven volunteers at the clinic said that they invested their stipend on fish farming, dogs and goats rearing as well as poultry farming but were unable to expand their businesses due to paucity of funds.
Imoukhuede said that the Social Investment Programmes (SIPs) of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration were particularly aimed at addressing joblessness and encouraging innovation and enterprise.
According to him, the GEEP component of the SIPs offers soft loans to farmers and other business people to boost their enterprises.
“Use GEEP to support your investments,’’ he urged the volunteer entrepreneurs.
Imoukhuede commended the decision of graduates to participate in the N-Agro scheme to further their interest in farming.
He specifically said that the 3,000 fingerlings, raised by Mr Sylester Ukeme, a 2014 Bio-Chemistry graduate of University of Uyo, was the kind of projects which the volunteers should engage in.
He also lauded the decision of Mr Ini Effiong to join the veterinary section of the Ministry of Agriculture to learn how to apply veterinary training to manage his 11-year-old dog farm.
Speaking, Effiong, a 2012 graduate of Our Savior Polytechnic, Enugu, said that he was inspired to join N-Agro scheme because of his farm which had 20 species of security dogs.
“I knew that one of the challenges facing Akwa Ibom is insecurity and I chose to rear dogs to assist property owners secure their premises and investments.
“I applied for posting to the Ministry of Agriculture to enable me to acquire requisite skills and experience.
“The demand for my dogs is high and the prices of the puppies range from N30,000 to N50,000, and even up to N100,000, depending on one’s choice,’’ he added.
NAN also reports that the monitoring team, led by Imoukhuede, also visited St. Patricks’ Primary School, Iboko Offot, Uyo, and the Primary Health Centre in Operational Base, Uyo.
Imoukhuede told the volunteers there to work round the clock to catch up with their counterparts in other states since they started their programme late in the state.
Prior to the monitoring, the SSA told stakeholders in Akwa Ibom that N468 million had been injected into the state’s economy through N-Power since January.
He called for increased commitment in monitoring the programme, saying the Federal Government was spending N6 billion monthly on the volunteers’ stipend, among other expenses. (NAN)
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