The Project 1000 Farms Multi-purpose Cooperative Society Limited has signed a N4 million Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and Ekondo Microfinance Bank in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
The Secretary of the Youth-based cooperative society, Mr Dough Onah, who stated this in a statement said, the MoA is an interest free loan/intervention fund of SMEDAN’s One Local Government One Product initiative approved by the Federal Government of Nigeria for disbursement.
According to the statement, President of Project 1000 Farms, Mr Ogar Sunday Ogbor and Secretary, Mr Dough Onah, both co-signed the MoA and had the opportunity to meet with the other beneficiaries for the South-South zone of the SMEDAN, OLOP project, held at the Emerald Hotel, Port Harcourt.
The Director General of SMEDAN, Dr Dikko Umoru Radda and the Managing Director, Ekundo Micro Finance Bank signed the document respectively on behalf of their esteemed organisations.
Mr Dough further revealed that the interest free loan and intervention fund, will be judiciously used for the processing Cassava into Cassava flour, Cassava Chips and hygienic Garri suitable for Diabetic patients and for consumption both locally and internationally.
The Project1000 MPCS Limited is among the three MSMEs representing Cross River State and the Northern Senatorial District in the SMEDAN OLOP project to benefit from the N12 million allocated to the state, which is geared towards production of indigeneous agricultural products in each zone of the country.
This is a part of the SMEDAN 2017 budget year and N4 million is a 30% grant and 70% loan to cover cost for working capital, equipments and work space, which will be disbursed in installments as the program unfolds.
The Project 1000 Farms MPCS Limited is a subset of Project 1000 a citizen oriented organisation for Yala young Urban Professionals.
He noted that, it has been a long time coming after the kick off the #project1000 as a solution driven citizenship forum on the 9th of June 2018, since then the forum have identified the challenges of the Yala LGA and proffered solutions to them along the lines of Agriculture, Education, ICT, Culture and Tourism as a means of addressing Youth unemployment and as a way or curbing social vices that has reached an all time high in Yala LGA since it’s inception in August of 1991.
It is on this note that we are expressing our sincere appreciation to the Federal Government, SMEDAN and its officials who believed in our projects and our vision as a startup and has given us this opportunity.
We in special way thank Mr Charles Offoboche, Mr. Ebriku John Friday and Team for their earnest support and believe in making this work for we understand that it is impossible to have consistency if the people around do not support you and this is the.ost difficult challenge young people face.
Ours has been different as we’ve received massive encouragement from our mentors and receive sound advice from other Agro business experts all around us.
In the same vein, we want to appreciate members of this the #project1000 MPCS Limited whose resources have gone into this project in various ways.
It’s amazing what young people can achieve when they come together and speak in one voice and even contribute resources to fund a project they believe in, it goes a long way in setting the tune of how things work and for this we are most grateful to God for inspiring us and keeping our belief and hopes alive even in the darkest of times.
Our sincere appreciation goes out also to stakeholders at various levels from Yala who has in our one year of existence believed in our vision and banked on us.
Kudos to Chief Paul Santus, CEO of Santuscom Agro Hub who inspires the project1000 farms, attorney Alphonsus Ogar Eba, our national legal adviser for always sharing his experience in guiding us, Hon. Bravo whom when we needed the most push to keep the vision burning, called a meeting in Yala that renewed our energy when we were at our lowest.
There are no words to express this.
Thank you all for being a part of this progress.
We seize this opportunity to call on well meaning sons and daughters of YALA and CROSS RIVER STATE at large to support this vision for the general good of the Yala people.
Signed:
Dough ONAH, Secretary
Project 1000 Farms MPCS LIMITED.
