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The Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises-Niger Delta has commenced disbursing the cash component of its empowerment package to agribusiness trainees in Abia.
The beneficiaries received cheques for N472,000 each as start-up capital after completing intensive training at various incubation centres across the state.
One hundred of the 276 selected beneficiaries received cash support during a graduation ceremony, held in Umuahia, for the Additional Financing Batch 1 ‘Incubatees’.
The state project coordinator, Uchenna Onyeizu, said LIFE-ND trained beneficiaries in processing and marketing enterprises. He also said the remaining beneficiaries would be empowered in their different communities.
Mr Onyeizu disclosed that an additional 332 beneficiaries engaged in production enterprises would be supported with inputs. He said 608 beneficiaries working in poultry, rice, cassava, and fishery value chains would be empowered under the project’s AF for the 2025 incubation year.
LIFE-ND is a collaborative initiative of the federal government, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and the Niger Delta Development Commission.
The project targets youths aged 18 to 35 and women-headed households, focusing on poverty reduction, job creation, sustainable income, and food sufficiency across the nine Niger Delta states.
Mr Onyeizu described the ceremony as “a celebration of transformation and demonstration of measurable impact”.
He said, “We are witnessing the product of deliberate policy direction, strategic investment, and an unwavering commitment to empowering the people of Abia, especially our youths and women.”
He said that the project had empowered over 4,379 beneficiaries across rice, cassava, poultry, and oil palm value chains in 100 communities across 10 LGAs since its inception in 2021.
He commended Governor Alex Otti for creating an enabling environment where agriculture can thrive as a business and a pathway to wealth creation. The commissioner for agriculture, Cliff Agbaeze, said LIFE-ND had remained a catalyst for equipping young people with practical skills, resources, and the confidence to thrive in agribusiness. He said the state government planned to go beyond counterpart funding to collaborate on ‘LIFE-ND Plus’ to expand the project to all 17 LGAs.
“What LIFE-ND is doing does not cover all the 17 LGAs and communities in the state, so what we are trying to do is make sure that all the LGAs and communities benefit.
“We will continue to support initiatives like LIFE-ND, that align with our vision of a prosperous and food-secure state,” Mr Agbaeze said.
The LIFE-ND national project coordinator, Sani Abiodun, represented by Olatunde Ogunleye, thanked the state government for providing an enabling environment for the project to succeed.
He urged the beneficiaries to leverage agricultural seasons for maximum production, saying that transforming the rural economy remained a key goal of the programme.
One of the beneficiaries and a rice processor in Amamba-Uzuakoli, Bende LGA, Chinedu Okorie, expressed gratitude to LIFE-ND, saying the programme gave him greater exposure and made life easy for him.
Highlights of the event included the presentation of dummy cheques and certificates to the beneficiaries.
