By Odimmegwa Johnpeter, Abuja
The Federal Government, through the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF), has commenced the training of One Hundred and Eighty-Seven (187), selected Civil Servants across Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government (MDAs) for the 3rd batch of the Agripreneurship Start-up Scheme. This was contained in a statement signed by Mohammed A. Ahmed, Director, Communications.
The Scheme is a component of the Federal Public Service Entrepreneurship Programme (FPSEP), an initiative developed by the Service Welfare Office (SWO), in the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF), to achieve one of the goals of Pillar 6 of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation plan 2021-2025(FCSSIP25), which is aimed at enhancing the value proposition of Civil Servants.
The programme was declared open by the Director Overseeing the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Service Welfare Office, in the OHCSF, Dr. Comfort Adeosun, on Wednesday, June 5th, 2024, in Abuja.
Dr. Adeosun stated that the main objective of FPSEP is to provide opportunities for public servants to learn and acquire new skills that would enable them to have multiple streams of income before and after retirement.
She further stated that Agripreneurship opens doors to harness the untapped potentials in agriculture and entrepreneurship sectors that are vital for sustainable development and economic growth.
Dr. Comfort hinted that the first and second batches of trainees have started practising what they learnt, and this has enhanced their financial inflow and improved the standard of living for their households. “With this, the Government’s purpose for this programme is greatly achieved as serving and retiring Officers are not only having extra income windows through the sales of the products that are harvested from their respective farms but also are enjoying a healthy life through the consumption of the products harvested from these farms” she added.
Dr. Adeosun thanked the relevant stakeholders and partners which include; the OHCSF, the Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN), the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) and selected farmers for their invaluable contributions towards the actualisation of the Programme.
The Director overseeing the Entrepreneurship Department at the Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN), Mrs Ebun Aboje, said that the entrepreneurship program has further unbundled other skills acquisition programmes run by the Institute, she encouraged participants to leverage the training to acquire the necessary skills needed to enhance productivity in their area of interest.
Earlier, the Deputy Director Overseeing the Office of Director Employee and Industrial Relations (EIR), Mr. Dominic Nwachukwu urged the participants to pay close attention to the training and make judicious use of the opportunity.
It should be noted that the FSEP initiative was launched on 27th March 2023 and subsequently followed by the commencement of the Agripreneurship training of 87 participants drawn from four (4) MDAs The success story of the first batch of trainees gave rise to wider awareness of the programme. A total of 100 participants, drawn from five MDAs, participated in the second batch of the programme held between 20th November and 8th December 2023.
The third batch training module includes Entrepreneurial Mindset and Marketing, Grass Cutter Farming, Sources of Finance for Agricultural and Ventures and Insurance (NAIC/BOA), Overcoming Retirement Phobia (Life After Service), Honeybee Production, Livestock/Poultry Production and Fish Farming, Enhancing Cassava Value Chain as Alternative to Oil revenue and Crop Farming, Spices Production and Hydroponics and Mushroom Farming.
