No fewer than 400 ex-agitators have been deployed to various farms in the Niger Delta after a four-day Basic Orientation Programme (BOC) by the Presidential Amnesty Programme.
The ex-agitators drawn from the various States in the Niger Delta concluded their course in two batches at the Nigerian Navy College of Engineering in Sapele, Delta State, at the weekend.
The Interim Administrator (PAP), Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (retd), while addressing the beneficiaries, said that the journey towards food security in the Niger Delta has commenced with the deployment.
Dikio in a statement by his Special Adviser, Media, Neotabase Egbe, said that there would be massive food production in the region, which would be exported to other states and countries to help change the economic fortunes of people of the Niger Delta
“Our mission here is to create entrepreneurs or people who are employable. You must have an eye for what is possible. An entrepreneur does not look at problems, he looks and thinks solutions to the problems,” he said.
“So what problem are you trying to solve? The oil industry is technical, a lot of things people used to do with hands, they are doing it with computers.
“Those of you who are here you have been assembled to be trained on modern farming. Farming is not a poor man’s work, that’s the first thing you should know. In the US, the largest concentration of millionaires are farmers
“I have gone round most of the farms in the Niger Delta, most of them cannot meet up to 20% of the market share, that is the demand. That is why food prices are going up. Now if you have a population that is going up, it means that there are more mouths to feed; so if you’re into farming you can never be broke. Somebody who wants to progress must be ready to learn.
“Another reason why we are sending you to be trained in farming is for the purpose of food security.”
He appealed to the beneficiaries of the training to see it as a lifetime opportunity to secure their future and urged them not to give up no matter the circumstances.