The Lagos State Government says its coconut project will provide 200,000 job opportunities for the youth.
Mrs Bimbola Salu-Hundeyin, the Secretary to the Lagos State Government, said this during a courtesy visit by the Country Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations in Nigeria, Mr Dominique Koffy.
Salu-Hundeyin received Koffy on behalf of the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in Ikeja on Tuesday.
She said that in collaboration with the FAO, the government would utilise the state’s cash crop coconut, to provide food for the citizens.
According to her, coconut has a lot of benefits, and Lagos is grateful to God that He has blessed it with that.
“So, we are very, very blessed people to have this tree that God has given us free of charge. We don’t want to lose that which God has given to us. We want to improve on it, so that we can feed our people in Lagos State.
“We can employ our children, our youth so that they can be gainfully employed. They can eat healthily, affordably, when this coconuts is made into bread; into garri; into flour; into chinchin; into everything; it will be cheaper than most things.
“Coconut, apart from the fact that it’s food for us, food for belly, is also money in hand. It is also protection in climate change, against some adversities. We use it to build a wall. We know that coconut is a blessed fruit, and we are grateful to God.
“Mr Governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, is very concerned about the citizens of his state. All he wants is food for them, good economy, better liveability. So, anything that will bring comfort, succour and enjoyment to us as Lagosians, that is what he’s interested in.
“Mr Governor has made all provisions, even our counterpart funding is ready. Everything to start this project is ready because we know that it is a project that the citizenry of Lagos State and Nigeria as a whole, and West Africa will benefit from.
“Lagos wants to feed Lagos, Lagos wants to feed Nigeria, Lagos wants to make Africa proud, and that is why, in any area that we dip our hands into, we are going to put in our best, and we assure you that in this coconut project, we are digging deep.
“We are ensuring that every positive thing, every advantage of coconut, from the shell, from the water, from coconut itself, from the trees, we will enjoy all these advantages,” she said.
Salu-Hundeyin said that Lagos State has the largest population in Nigeria, which translated to the fact that it had a lot of youth population.
“We do know that our youth represents strength. We need to engage them, we need to provide food for them, we need to provide job for them.
“We know that the coconut project will give our youth nothing less than 200,000 job opportunities, that is a good thing for us, and so Mr Governor says he’s buying into it,” she said.
Speaking earlier, Koffy said the FAO was ready to work with the Lagos State Government to the coconut value chain development, which would create employment.
He commended the Federal Government and the Lagos State Government for their willingness to work with the organisation.
Koffy added that the FAO and the Lagos State Government would be working on cattle feedlot, on ways to develop cattle farms for youth productivity, not just for Nigeria, but for export.
He said that Nigeria has an enabling environment to develop the necessary farms in the country.
Koffy said there was the need for a strong policy that would boost production to ensure that Nigerians had enough to eat.
