The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria has trained and empowered about 200 households in Ekiti State with tools and inputs for value addition to agricultural outputs as a means of giving them sustainable livelihoods.
The bishops, through their humanitarian services delivery arm, Caritas Nigeria, provided start-up kits for the beneficiaries to engage in production after training them in vocations and skills, including rice processing, fish processing, tomato and pepper processing, cassava processing and fish production in Ekiti West and Irepodun/Ifelodun local government areas.
The Catholic Bishop of Ekiti Diocese, Felix Ajakaiye, who spoke at Aramoko Ekiti on Wednesday during the graduation ceremony of vocational skills trainees and distribution of start-up kits to them, hailed Caritas for living up to its billing of ensuring people, particularly the poor and vulnerable, live meaningful lives.
The two-day programme, distribution of agricultural capacity building and value chain inputs to 200 households in Ekiti State under the Building Sustainable Livelihood for Vibrant Community (B-SLiC) was organised by Caritas in collaboration with Conrad Hilton Foundation through the Catholic Sisters Initiative held at Aramoko Ekiti and Igbemo Ekiti.
The Bishop, represented by the Rev Fr Joseph Abegunde, said, “The purpose of Caritas is to attend to the poor people in the society, irrespective of your gender, your tribe, wherever you have come from, or your religion. So, through them, donors access the society. The bishops established it so that they can attend to the humanitarian services in the society”.
Ajakaiye, who said the impact of the training and agricultural processing tools distributed would be much on the community, advised the beneficiaries to make good use of the equipment to better their lives and those of others.
He said, “The benefits are so much. Number one is to alleviate poverty. With these, people will work to have sustainable livelihoods, and they will employ some people. It is not only the beneficiaries who will benefit from these, but some other people will also benefit. Some farmers will come around to grind or fry their cassava, process rice, etc. So it is a benefit to the communities.”
The Executive Secretary, Caritas Nigeria, Rev. Fr Babangida Aliyu, said the initiative “is not just merely about giving tools, it is about restoring dreams, strengthening families and reducing poverty. When one person becomes economically empowered, an entire household is also uplifted.
“So, when many people gain sustainable means of livelihood, the society itself becomes more stable and more prosperous,” he said.
The Caritas boss congratulated the beneficiaries, saying, “This is just a beginning for you. Use the knowledge you have gained and the tools and inputs appropriately.
I urge you to turn these tools into thriving businesses, these opportunities into lasting success, and this small beginning into inspiring testimonies”.
The traditional rulers of the two communities in the two local government areas, the Onigbemo of Igbemo Ekiti, Oba Adewumi Daramola and the Regent of Aramoko Ekiti, Mrs Adekemi Adeyemi-Owolabi, appreciated Caritas for the gesture, which they said would contribute largely to eradicating poverty in their communities, local government areas and state.
While Oba Daramola advised beneficiaries against misusing the opportunity and selling the tools, the regent urged recipients to use the equipment very well to stamp out poverty, as both traditional rulers said they would ensure monitoring of the equipment at the different locations where they are operating
Also speaking, the Caritas Director of Humanitarian Services, Nkese Udongwu, in an address to the beneficiaries, said, “Take these seriously. Do your own and make sure you have sustainable livelihoods. You can become an employer of labour from here. We want you to succeed, we want people to be lifted out of poverty in a sustainable manner”.
Udongwu, who gave a breakdown of agricultural inputs and processing tools distributed in the two local government areas in Ekiti State, said, “Under the programme billed for two local government areas in Lagos State and two LGAs in Ekiti, Caritas is training and empowering 400 households – 200 in Lagos, 200 in Ekiti.
“B-SLiC is meant to lift people out of poverty through giving them sustainable agricultural livelihoods. We have also been able to empower people not only for fish production, but also for fish processing, i.e., the drying of fish to sell.
“For fish production, as they set up, we are going to give each group 250 fingerlings to start their production with the feed.
“We have also trained people and given them machinery to produce tomato paste, tomato powders and pepper powders, to brand them in bottles and containers and sell.
“We have also trained people on how to process garri (cassava flakes). So, we have given them the entire package from the grinding machine to the cassava pressing machine to the frying, the expansive frying pan where up to six people can stay to fry. And then we have given them the bags of processing and sealing and things to brand it.
“We have also trained people on several other things. And as you can see, today we are giving them the machinery, the total pack.
“Last month, we were at Ikogosi Ekiti in Ekiti West, where we gave out crops and livestock to people. Crops like cassava, corn, and the farm inputs, as well as cereal producers, are people who will produce seeds for planting in the next season. So we empower people and ensure that they live a sustainable life.
“We also train them on climate-smart agricultural practices, so they don’t have to go and buy inorganic fertiliser, but they can actually produce the fertiliser themselves. Even this feed, we’re also training them on how to even produce some of the feeds themselves, so that they are sustainable and not just relying on maybe a handout somewhere,” Udongwu said.
Attendance at the events included representatives of the chairman of the two local government areas, traditional chiefs, and representatives of the state Ministry of Women Affairs.