Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande has disclosed that the Youth in Agribusiness Land Trust Fund (YIALTF) will begin implementation within the next two weeks, with tractors, inputs and private sector partners already lined up.
Speaking to journalists after the Abuja launch on Monday, Olawande said the program marks a shift from waiting on budgetary allocation to partnering directly with investors and organizations to create opportunities for young farmers.
Data + partnerships drive take-off
“We are thinking outside the box by not waiting to have budgetary allocation. We’ve partnered with a lot of people,” Olawande said.
He said the ministry built a database of young people interested in agriculture before seeking partners. “Without data, you can’t do anything. After we analyzed that, we have huge data, we now went back to start thinking of what investors, what private sector-driven people we can align with,” he said.
According to him, IITA, AfreximBank, BOA, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, FCMB, First Bank and “a huge large number of investors” have committed to work with the program. “We have crossed the road now… We have the tractors with the BOI. We have BOI, even involving investment percentage. We have all those things that we have sealed and made the agreement about. And we are ready to implement it,” he said.
Turning idle youth centres into farms
Olawande said he discovered over 40 youth development centres with large tracts of idle land after resuming office. “Where you get there you see bushes. Nothing is happening there, those lands are just there. Even the lands are not affected by insecurity or anything. And I said, it is time for us to make use of this land for agricultural, energy, hope, creative, and all of that,” he said.
The minister said agriculture is the first phase, but “in the next two weeks, we have been using energy too” because the same data of interested youth will be applied to other sectors.
PPP model, states urged to join
He stressed that the initiative is private sector-driven through Public-Private Partnerships, not dependent solely on Federal funding. “It’s not about probably the Federal government, but where it supervise it to make sure that we spare this thing, and make it work,” he said.
Olawande appealed to Governors and sub-national governments to collaborate and identify interested youth at state level. “The youth does not live in Abuja alone but more sub national and local government areas The only way we can eradicate poverty is to collaborate with us to develop interest in agriculture to get drawn and let them know that contentment is key with whatsoever they have,” he said.
He added that the Tinubu administration is “setting a pace, so that we create an enabling environment” despite insecurity and economic challenges. “Fine, we have challenges. But again, we have to put each trait to the young people that civil service job is not enough to get rich. It is time to just create a job wherever we can get it.”
The minister said the launch event itself included starter support for some young people, but the real focus is scale: “It’s not about the money, it’s about to providing jobs for the teeming Nigerians”
