By Olaide Ayinde

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) Centre of Excellence for Integrated Farming System has trained 50 youth and women on broiler chicken production in Bauchi State.

Dr Abdullahi Muhammad, Director, TETFund Centre of Excellence, Federal Polytechnic Bauchi, said this at the inauguration of a 5-day training exercise, on Tuesday in Bauchi.

He said the exercise was designed to help the trainees to engage in poultry production and cope with the current economic conditions.

According to Muhammad, plans are on to expand the scope of the training exercise to include youths and women in the northeast region.

“Most of our youth in this region are job seekers and we want to see a situation where we reform job seekers to be employers of labour.

“We look at what we can train them on that will give them quick returns or generate income in the shorter period of time and that’s why we came up with broiler chicken production.

“This will give them return on investment within eight weeks, they can dispose their birds and bring another set,” he said.

Muhammad enjoined the participants to make maximum use of the opportunity of the programme to have a means of livelihood.

Mr Shamsu Abdu, Head of Mass Communication Department in the institution, lauded the gesture, adding that the exercise was part of the institution’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), to give back to the community.

According to Audu, youth empowerment is a crucial aspect of human development, especially when government jobs are limited and scarce.

“It’s high time for us to look inwards and understand some of our strengths, what we can do to make ourselves self-reliant and independent.

“I believe that at the end of this programme, participants will learn the practical, theoretical knowledge and skills on how to be self-reliant and employers of labour,” he said.

Also, Dr Musa Adamu, Coordinator, World Bank-assisted Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support (L-PRES) Project, Bauchi State Office, enjoined the youths to take advantage of the project to contribute to the development of livestock subsector in the region.

He said the project focussed on key value chains of sheep, goat, beef and dairy production, hence the need for the youths to avail themselves the opportunity of the programme.

The Rector, Alhaji Sani Usman, commended the fund over the establishment of the centre in the institution, and called for the expansion of the training exercise to mobilise participation in the programme. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Dorcas Jonah/Rabiu Sani-Ali