…and which team in Bayelsa State discovered
The Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprise Project in the Niger Delta (LIFE-ND) is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) created by a partnership between the Federal Government of Nigeria, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to manage a $90m fund to promote food and fibre.
The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was supposed to bring in $30 million of the total fund that was to cover the three states but this did not happen until Samuel Ogbuku became the managing director.
On the eve of Christmas 2025, Life ND went on an inspection tour of the projects in some of the states in the region where the projects are located. It started in Akwa Ibom State and ended in Bayelsa.
The State Coordinator in Yenagoa, Amos Kester Abiwei, revealed how they have reached out to over 4,500 youths in various selected local governments and communities. The project targets only 10 LGAs in each state, but Bayelsa is in luck; They have only eight LGAs and thus, everyone benefited.
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According to Abiwei, the project also reached women and persons with disabilities. “We can tell you that in terms of infrastructure and human capacity building, we have built the infrastructure. We have cassava processing plants, banana processing plants etc. There are a lot of youth working in these places.
“Also, many of the youth who came as incubators have set up their own gardens and are now incubators. They now have their own facilities. In terms of outputs from the project, Bayelsa has some of the best beneficiaries. So we have a lot of youth who are now off the streets and are currently doing very well in their different areas of interest.”
Officials acknowledged that many agricultural projects targeting youth have taken youth off the streets and reduced restlessness in the Niger Delta, especially because it has been well adopted in communities, focusing on infrastructure, human capital development, nutrition, economic well-being, etc. The benefits are huge.
“We appreciate the beneficiaries for how they accepted the scheme. I assure them of a better tomorrow.”
He said there are great expectations for Life-ND in Bayelsa State and a lot remains to be achieved.
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The project coordinator said they are mainly focusing on poultry, fish farming, cassava and banana as these reside in Bayelsa State. “We have been able to set up cassava processing plants, and banana processing plants. We have also set up poultry farms, broiler production setups and layer production setups. And we have also done a lot in the field of fisheries.”
LIFE-ND also reaches out to farmers and supplies inputs. They have already adopted the incubatee-incubator model; Incubators have farms. “We bring in incubatees who do not have farms but are interested in agriculture.
“After the training, we provide them inputs to set up their system. So there is infrastructure, there is input supply, there is support system also. Business Development System (BDS) is for people who are in business, who need some kind of capital to grow their business. So these are some of the achievements we have recorded in Bayelsa.”
Regarding the area, he said that the workers are from the state and are familiar with the area. When traveling by water, only those who are comfortable with it are allowed to travel. “We also have roadways. The governor here has done a lot to connect communities with roads.”
He added: “When we go to communities, we find out what they need. But we see gray areas, we think about what can we do for them to be actively involved in agriculture. So we are able to reach those communities both by road and by waterways. When we have to go through water, we make sure that we select our staff who are highly inclined towards waterways and can swim properly in an emergency So, the easiest part for us is to reach out to every community that can benefit from this program.
