Leventis Foundation Nigeria has marked 30 years of its Agric Training School with the provision of free agricultural education to Nigerians.
It’s Agric Training School offers one year and short-term free training to students, during which the trainees are fed free meals and given monthly allowance of N3,000 each.
The school which has trained over 5,000 since inception, currently has 102 trainees set to graduate in December 2018.
At the occasion to mark the school’s 30th anniversary held at its Kaduna State centre, in Dogon Dawa, Birnin-Gwari Local government area, the Principal of the school, Mr. Adebayo Aworeni Awotodunbo, said the foundation’s resolve to give free agric education to Nigerians was borne out of the need to develop Nigerians, through mainstreaming youths into eco-friendly agriculture.
He said the foundation has identified agriculture as the most important sector of the Nigerian economy in terms of sustainable employment, provision of raw materials for the industry as well as provision of food for the citizenry.
“For any nation to experience meaningful and desirable development, the most vulnerable and marginalized groups; the youths (male and female) and women must be sustainably mainstreamed into eco-friendly agriculture.
“Having this understanding, the Late Anastasios George Leventis initiated the establishment of Leventis Foundation Nigeria (LFN) 30 years ago in Nigeria, to bridge the gap of youth unemployment, vicious poverty cycle, persistent political thuggery and hooliganism; a product of the insensitivity of the leaders and managers of the Nigerian economy.
“That the Foundation has been able to sustainably enhance livelihood among these marginalized groups and restore hope of good living in them. It is worth celebrating throughout our nation, Nigeria.
“In Kaduna State, more than 5,000 youths (both regular trained farmers and short training courses participants) whose agricultural capacities had been viably developed are now economically and productively useful, not only to themselves but also to the nation. This in itself justifies the need to celebrate LFN at 30 for continuous service and meritorious contributions to the agricultural economy of Nigeria,” Awotodunbo said.
Representative of Kaduna State Government at the event, Director of Planning and Evaluation at the Kaduna Agricultural Development Agency, Mr. Danjuma Tyuka, commended the foundation for the meritorious service to the state.
He however urged the current and past trainees of the school to take advantage of state government’s friendly ease of doing business policy to establish agric business in the state, saying that only 2.935 million hectares out of Kaduna’s 4.5 million land mass is presently under cultivation.
Highlight of the occasion was exhibition of finished products and farm produce of both current and past students of the school.
