Oyo, FCMB Lift Youth Agri-Buss With N1.5bn

The Seyi Makinde -led government in has earmarked N500 million to support beneficiaries of the Youth Entrepreneurship in Agribusiness Project.

The youth empowerment programme totaling N1.5 billion is in conjunction with Nigeria’s leading  commercial bank, First City Monument Bank, FCMB, the state government said.

According to checks by the magazine, YEAP, an initiative of the Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency, OSADA, has so far trained 3,300 participants.

The state Deputy Governor Bayo Lawal made the announcement on Tuesday after the state executive council meeting, SEC, in Ibadan, the state capital.

Lawal said the initiative by the state government is part of the state’s Sustainable Actions for Economic Recovery programme, YEAP.

A statement shared on the state official X handle on Thursday,  said the fund will encourage youth enterperneurship, aside from driving economic growth and recovery in the Pacesetters state.

The state government stated that the initiative is aimed at ameliorating the sufferings imposed by the removal of fuel subsidy by the federal government.

“The Oyo State Executive Council (ExCo) met today and approved the sum of N500 million as enterprise support to Youth Entrepreneurship in Agribusiness Project (YEAP) beneficiaries,’ Lawal said.

“The N500 million was approved for YEAP beneficiaries under the Sustainable Actions for Economic Recovery (SAfER) programme.

“The support is being provided in collaboration with First City Monument Bank (FCMB), which will be providing an additional N1 billion, making a total of N1.5 billion.

“Acting Governor, Barr. Abdulraheem @BayoLawal, presided over the ExCo meeting,” the Deputy Governor said.

Recall that the state government had in February, disclosed that it would disburse over N340 million to crop farmers as part of the SAfER initiative, afterr it had earlier disbursed over N416 million, with a total of N1 billion allocated to assist farmers in the state.