Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha pledged at the weekend to establish multi-million naira food crops processing plants in Imo State to boost food security and production in the state.
He made the pledge during the passing out ceremony of 700 youths and women who benefitted from the agro-training programme organized by him in collaboration with the National Root Crops Research Institute Umudike held at Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri .
The Deputy Speaker noted that for the benefits of the programme to be significant and sustained he would fund the establishment of cassava, yam, cocoa yam and fruits processing plants to be sited in Okigwe, Owerri and Orlu zones of Imo State and would be managed by the people themselves especially those who took part in the programme.
The essence of the scheme, according to him, is to empower the people, create wealth and to provide participants opportunity to apply the knowledge and skill they have gained from the exercise and to scale down the rate of unemployment in the state.
“My tendency is to ensure that cake, flour, juice, bread, cream and other items that are products of processed yam, cassava, cocoa yam, fruits and so on are in abundance to boost food production and food security in the country and to create employment opportunities”, he said.
He promised that the empowerment programme being organized by his office would be sustained to enable significant number of youths and women to benefit from the exercise in the state.
Accordingly, arrangements he said have been concluded to organize another empowerment programme that would involve trainings on various aspects of skills acquisition.
He noted that as part of efforts towards ensuring infrastructural development he has used his office to facilitate and attract several projects to his constituency and to the state.
He advised the beneficiaries to return to their communities to apply the knowledge and skill gained from the programme for their own benefit and that of the society noting that it was the only way the training they have embarked upon would be meaningful.