The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has begun 60 youths in the Southwest geo-political zone on fish farming, poultry, and other methods of agriculture to reduce unemployment among the youths in the zone.
The Chairman of FIRS, Dr Zacheus Adedeji, who was represented by Benedicta Akpana, said the training of the youth in the three states of the Southwest was part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of the tax collection agency.
Speaking in Akure, the Ondo State capital during the flag-off of the programme, Akpana said the FIRS is empowering the youth of the Southwest through agro-farming, fish farming, poultry farming, and other methods of agriculture.
She said the agency had trained some youth in Oyo and Ekiti States in the past week, saying the beneficiaries would be given grants to boost their farming activities.
According to her, “We all know FIRS for always collecting. So, this is us giving back. And since August, we have been on this train; we give back, and we follow up because we believe that when you train a farmer, you feed a nation.
“So this is to help us grow our agricultural sector. In the same vein, we grow our GDP as a country. If you learn this properly, you grow with this. You also employ other people because agriculture is paramount in every society.
“Food surplus is what we are looking at. This poultry farming we have done in Oyo, Osun, and other Southwest states, and now we are in the Sunshine State, precisely in the city of Akure.
“We will come back to follow up with this to know how they are faring and how you have been able to manage the resources that FIRS is supporting because, of course, you will pay your taxes at the end of the day, which is our goal.
“Because by the time you grow your poultry farm, you employ more people, you become a responsible citizen, and responsible citizens pay their taxes. So that is why we are here. As we begin, I pray that you learn and also become useful to yourselves and society.
“This way, we reduce the rate of unemployment in society and become self-sufficient because we know that the government cannot employ everybody. We have to do it for ourselves.”
Akpana said the Federal Government was ready to support the youth through agriculture as farming is the only way the majority of the people can be employed without relying on government jobs for survival.
The Convener of the programme, Mr. Femi Oludare said all the states in the Southwest geo-political would benefit from the project sponsored by FIRS. He said the programme started in Oyo State in August.
Oludare said the aim is to raise a better farmer because most of the youth run away from poultry, run away from fish breeding, and some other livestock animal breeding because of the economic condition of the country.
His words “The economic situation of the country has not encouraged them to go into the business. After all, when you look at the cost of raw materials, cost of feeds, and cost of some other things, it made the youth chicken out.
“They could not maintain it. So, people are now rushing into technology, but we find out that, okay, what kills great farms is not because of just the economy alone.
One is management practice and the ability to scale up at a particular time needed. We now have a great opportunity, thanks to the FIRS for giving us support to empower them, our youth most especially.
“Not just startups, but people that have started, but in a little way, just to have a pull, not only necessarily by push but a pull so that they can do much better. And so that is why we are here in the city of Akure.
“I believe that at the end of these two days, we have a lot of great facilitators who are here to mentor and train us.
“And we are not only doing that; we are making this particular farm an incubation centre where people can come, get themselves trained, and have a better view of themselves thereafter, after the empowerment, so that they can go and set up and also employ others.
“They can also employ others, also that is for job security in the society, and their business at large is to increase our GDP as a country and also to make it better so that we can have much interest of youth in farming.”
Oludare said the youth should not rely on technology and entertainment alone to make ends meet but go back to farming as a way to create employment and increase the GDP of the country.
