CBN governor urges youth to turn to agric

Speaking during a visit to PZ Wilmar oil palm plantation in Akamkpa, Cross River State, Emefiele said the CBN will partner the NYSC to train graduates on agricultural and entrepreneurial skills.
He underscored the economic importance of oil palm plantation business, stressing that graduates should desist from running after white collar jobs and engage in profitable agricultural ventures to stem the tide of unemployment in the country.
“The CBN will stop at nothing to ensure that graduates and farmers who may want to venture into oil palm plantation business are given adequate training and financial assistance. We will work with the NYSC to see how we can send some corps members on industrial attachment to PZ Wilmarr oil plantation for adequate training on various fields of agriculture.
“We will give grants to them and after a year we will give loans with which they can nurture their life and become entrepreneurs with the help of PZ Wilmarr. We will make some funds available so that they can buy seedlings and with that they can expand the base of palm plantation business in Nigeria.”
He said after the training, loans will be given to the graduates at 9 per cent interest rate to enable them start their own businesses.
He commended the Cross River Government which in collaboration with PZ Willmar invested massively on oil palm in Nigeria.
Emefiele praied the company, saying: “I see your foray into palm plantation as part of your backward integration plans and I feel delighted that you have taken this on as a way of supporting the federal government’s transformation agenda- first to create jobs, develop entrepreneurs in Nigeria and at the same time go into import substitution.”
Managing Director (West Africa) of PZ Wilmar, Mr. Santosh Pillai commended the CBN for its interest in agriculture, urging other government agencies to invest in agriculture as a way of boosting the economy.
He said they have so far employed about 4,000 Nigerians and had more than 4,000 hectares of palm plantation in Cross River State.