Entrepreneurs hold the ‘Prosperity’ of Delta State – Okowa

Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa has declared that the economic base of the state can truly be boosted by raising entrepreneurs through Skills training and SMEs programmes thus improving the well-being of most families in the State.

The Governor who made this assertion on Tuesday, May 30, 2017, at the quarterly Media Interaction with members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Delta State Chapter at the Government House Press Center, said it will definitely boost the economy of the average family in Delta State.

“By the time we take this process for several years, we believe that a lot of our youths will be in the position to become Micro Entrepreneurs, Small and Medium Scale Entrepreneurs. To God be the glory, that will definitely boost the economy of the average family in Delta State.”

Governor Okowa while highlighting his administration’s achievements within the past two years lauded the various entrepreneurial programmes which is being put in place to empower and create jobs for Deltans stating that skills through training of our youths not only in Agriculture but in other skills have enabled them fend for themselves.

Cross section of Journalists during Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s 2017 Quarterly Media Interaction, in Government House Asaba.

“We have stayed on course in this last two years through our empowerment programmes such as YAGEP and STEP, in the first year about 1,300 people were trained and in the second year about 3,000 have been engaged and all these people have already been fully trained and a lot of them have received their starter packs but one good thing is that beyond the training, they have monitoring and mentoring programs being carried out by a specialized unit to help the youths towards ensuring their success,” he asserted.

Speaking further, the governor said that the success stories presented during the past three Town Hall meetings, were great testimonies of the economic revolution gearing up in the state.

“In Sapele, one of the ladies that have been trained in fashion design has already in the course of the past two years, trained nine (9) persons on her own and currently engages about ten (10) more that she is training. It was a huge story for me.”

“In Ethiope West, another lady who went through aquaculture training and established by the state, has been able to develop her own small hatchery and she is able to produce her own fingerlings. That is enough success story because with such commitments, we are very likely to have persons who are passionate about farming or about their skills and are beginning to impact a lot of lives.”

“In Aniocha South, one of the people trained in poultry told us that he has already four cycles of production in terms of growing the birds and also has been able to go through the cycle of growing them to the point of production of eggs. He has already employed two (2) persons.”

He noted that through the Micro Credit Agency, the state has continued to offer very reasonable loans at low interest rate to people into farming, commerce and trade which has started paying off.