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Multi-billion naira cassava facility will turn ex-agitators into entrepreneurs, says Dikio

Sagbama—The Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Col. Milland Dikio (rtd), has revealed that the 60 metric ton daily Cassava processing factory has been approved to train and employ PAP delegates on cassava farming and starch processing.

Dikio, who was represented by his Special Assistant on Projects, Godwin Ekpo, during an inspection visit to the multi-billion naira factory in Ebedebiri, Sagbama local government area of Bayelsa State, said, about 1000 PAP delegates would be enrolled in the cassava value chain training and would afterwards be employed as out-growers of cassava stems.

The amnesty boss who said the programme was in line with PAP’s Train, Employ and Mentor (TEM) empowerment strategy, explained that the decision to send ex-agitators to the facility also aligned with the food security focus of PAP’s programme.

He noted that delegates would learn cassava cultivation, production, processing, equipment maintenance and other businesses involved in the cassava value chain.

According to Dikio, “This is a 60 metric tons of cassava processing plant. It has a huge capacity and it is part of the facility that we will use for our “Train, Employ and Mentor empowerment strategy.

“Even if everybody in this community plants cassava, it has the capacity to absorb all of it. We can see the entire value chain. This is a facility that will help many of our delegates and give them employment. It is an incredible facility located in the region. It will help them and also achieve our vision of turning these ex-agitators into entrepreneurs.”

The Project Management Consultant for the facility, Mr. Adebowale Ayoade, described it as the biggest industrial starch plant in Nigeria and the second largest in sub-Sahara Africa.

He said the delegates would receive theoretical and practical training on cassava cultivation and management.

The factory fortified with modern equipment to process starch from cassava was built by the Bayelsa State Government at Ebedebiri in Sagbama Local Government Area of the state.

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