42 rural farmers in Delta State have received N4.2 million revolving agricultural loans from the National Directorate of Employment.
Receiving the loan, beneficiaries commended the Directorate for granting them access to the loans.
Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, Mr Celestine Onyehazia, thanked the NDE for granting them access to the loans and pledged their collective resolve to pay back in time.
Addressing the beneficiaries, the Director General, NDE, Mallam Abubakar Fikpo, said the exercise marks the commencement of loan disbursement for the four different agricultural loans under the Rural Employment Promotion (REP) Department in the state.
Fikpo, represented by the Deputy Director, Human Resources, NDE, Abuja, Mrs Kate Oyoyo, said the flag-off of the loan disbursement in Asaba was to combat mass unemployment in the country as the statutory responsibility of NDE.
He said, “This event is memorable and life-changing that will go a long way to contributing positively to the development of the youths as well as the economy of the nation.
“It is the flag-off of the four loan schemes; Sustainable Agricultural Development Empowerment (SADES), Graduate Agricultural Empowerment Scheme (GAES), Agricultural Enhancement Scheme(AES) and Community-Based Agricultural Empowerment Scheme(CBAES)”
On his part, the NDE Acting State Coordinator, Mr Sylvanus Onyeogo, thanked the Director General for approving the loans for the beneficiaries in the state.
He said that the directorate has through its numerous schemes, trained many unemployed youths and women, who were currently waiting to take their turns in the loan disbursement in the state.
According to Onyeogo, the 42 beneficiaries in Delta have been trained in their respective schemes under the REP programmes which informed the distribution of the loans to support them to grow their agribusinesses.
“It is based on this training that you are being granted loan packages to enable you to establish agribusinesses of your choice on a sustainable basis and to explore value-chain thinking in the agricultural sector.
“A total of N4.2 million will be disbursed to 42 beneficiaries from those trained under the sustainable agriculture and agriculture extension training schemes at the rate of N100,000 for each beneficiary.
“Therefore, I urge you to effectively use the loan for the purpose for which it is obtained and pay it back at the stipulated time to enable others’ benefit.”
