BATN targets youth in agriculture with ‘Wealth is Here’ campaign

As efforts are still being put in place to evacuate the next batch of Nigerian migrants from South Africa, following violent attacks on foreign nationals seeking economic liberation, British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN) Foundation has launched ‘Wealth is Here’-an agribusiness campaign, to tackle migration, create and expose opportunities inherent in the agricultural sector.

Launched recently in Lagos, the campaign aims to change the negative narratives of agriculture in Nigeria by engaging youth in agriculture and turning their creative ideas to successful business enterprises.

With well rated agricultural resources and arable land mass of 78.5 million hectares, and a climate favourable to a wide variety of crops, the Federal Government has constantly canvassed for agriculture as an alternative means of revenue.

But BATN Foundation believes mass migration of Nigerian youth to other countries threatens any development efforts in the agricultural sector as youth are expected to take over from the aging population.

Speaking on the motivation for the initiative in this sector, Abimbola Okoya, executive director, BATN Foundation, said agriculture was the fastest way to build an army of prosperous people.

“There are opportunities to thrive in the sector and through the wealth is here campaign initiative BAT Nigeria Foundation will expose young people to entrepreneurial opportunities, advocate for policies that affect agric-preneurs and farmers,” Okoya said.

According to her, the initiative would provide access to finance, markets and technical support to encourage the establishment of viable businesses.

“Through this initiative, we would show the youth and everyone who needs to know that wealth is here in Nigeria,” Okoya adds.

Also addressing stakeholders at the event, Kola Jamodu, chairman, Board of Directors, BATN Foundation, lamented the lack of interest in agriculture by many educated Nigerian youth who are rather “pre-occupied on migrating to Canada or Europe.”

While reiterating the invaluableness of human and natural resources to building a strong economy, Jamodu said to drive growth in agriculture, carefully-thought-out solutions and programmes were being articulated for the youth to get involved, hence, ‘wealth is here’.

“The ‘wealth is here’ campaign will support these solutions. The objective of the campaign is to change the mind-set of Nigerians to believe they can excel in Nigeria by exposing them to agric-preneurial opportunities. The campaign is a reminder of the wealth-creating opportunities in agriculture that awaits those who are willing and diligent to seek it out,” he said.

In the second quarter of 2019, the sector contributed 21.9 percent to the national GDP and was ranked the third highest of a non-oil sector.

Hence, also addressing the audience, Yarub Al-Bahrani, managing director, BAT Nigeria, described Nigeria’s agricultural sector as a national treasure, “a gem that can support generations to come”.

“It is the largest employer of labour and an industry with the potential to generate billions of dollars,” Al-Bahrani said.

However, he argues that to leverage on that knowledge to the country’s advantage, there must be a mind shift. “We must change the narrative that Nigeria has little to offer the youth because our story of wealth and prosperity will be impossible without the active participation of young people who represent around 70 percent of the country’s population, he said.

He added that the campaign was an initiative to change the narrative and rewrite “our story”, provide hope. “Most importantly it is about creating multipliers in the economy for inclusive growth and shared prosperity,” he adds.

Apart from the launch of the campaign, a grant totalling up to N7.5 million was awarded to three recipients of the Farmer for the Future Project—a project seeking to encourage and support the youth in sustainable agriculture, targeting final year students and recent graduates of agriculture.

Going home with the sum of N5 million, 24-year-old Taiwo Olawumi Iyiola, a graduate of Forestry and Wood Technology from the Federal University of Technology, Akure, could not hide her feelings as she explained how glad she was receiving the grand prize.

“It just came as a flash. We have been itching for expansion all these while, so the prize is a good way for us to start expanding. And to bring forth our products, we have ideas that we could not even implement because of funds, but now we have the funds. So, we will start those things and bring them to life,” she said.

Desmond Okon