- Oyo rolls out loans for YEAP beneficiaries
Governor of Oyo State, ‘Seyi Makinde, has lauded the teachers of Oyo State extraction, who won awards in different categories at the 2023 Presidential Teachers and School Excellence Award.
The governor commended the award-winning teachers, describing them as worthy examples of the state’s pacesetter identity.
Governor Makinde hailed the achievements of the trio of Babarinlo Oluwaseun, the Head Teacher of the Methodist Basic School, Iseyin; Amoo Joseph, the Principal of the Government College Ibadan; and Odejayi Adedamilola, the Proprietor of the Second Home College, Olodo, Ibadan, who won different categories of awards at the teachers’ award ceremony in Abuja.
The governor equally lauded an indigene of Oyo State resident in Akwa Ibom, Mr. Ojo Titilope Peter, who emerged as the Overall Best Teacher, Federal Unity Colleges, stating that Ojo’s feat showed that Oyo State’s pacesetting identity thrives anywhere and everywhere.
Governor Makinde, who urged the award winners to “never relent in demonstrating to the world the excellent spirit of an average Oyo State indigene anywhere he finds himself,” said his administration would always provide an enabling environment for teachers to thrive and become the best in their profession.
He added, “I congratulate all teachers on the just-concluded World Teachers Day. I particularly commend three of our teachers, who won in different categories at the PT&SEA held in Abuja. I also commend the Oyo State indigene, who won the Best Teacher Award. These haul of awards by our teachers is another testament to how far we have come as a state, in developing our education system and placing it on the path of excellence.”
Governor Makinde, who expressed his appreciation to the teachers for showing, again, that Oyo State is, indeed, the pacesetter in education, noted that the awards won constituted a source of pride to all teachers, who have been supportive of the administration’s mission to rebuild the education sector.
“As an administration, we will stop at nothing to ensure that we create the enabling environment for our hardworking teachers to attain excellence on all fronts,” he said.
In another development, participants in Oyo State’s Youth Entrepreneurship in Agribusiness Project are to benefit from the N500 million loan the government is rolling out to support agribusiness as part of its Sustainable Actions for Economic Recovery.
YEAP is an Oyo State programme targeted at training young people in modern technology-driven agribusinesses and providing them with enterprise support.
SAfER is a multi-prong intervention implemented by the Oyo state government to ease the economic burden foisted on the people as a consequence of subsidy removal on Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol.
The N500 million earmarked by the state government as loan for agro-entrepreneurs is one of the measures put in place by the government to empower those in the sector and reinvigorate the economy.
The Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency, which handles YEAP, facilitated the training of about 3,300 youths in 2021.
According to a statement by OYSADA, the gesture by the state government is to enable the YEAP beneficiaries “apply their knowledge and skills in profitable agribusiness ventures and reshaping the agri-food sector, not just in Oyo State, but across Nigeria.”
The statement added that interested beneficiaries should apply at: https://www.dashboard.farmsured.com/yeap_safer
OYSADA has been providing beneficiaries of its programme with enterprise support on an ongoing basis.
In 2021, the agency provided an opportunity for about 100 of youth agro-entrepreneurs to practise the skills they acquired when some of those in the crop production enterprise were given one hectare of farmland at the Fasola Agribusiness Industrial Hub.
Another set of youths were supported in various farm groups in 11 Local Government Areas with over 200 of the YEAP beneficiaries receiving 25 bundles of cassava, 2.5 bags of fertiliser, and one litre of herbicide each.
The SAfER agribusiness loan will create an opportunity for many of the YEAP beneficiaries to launch their agribusiness initiatives.
