He emphasized that much of this money was expended on Songhai integrated training, adding that the state sent 99 youths to Republic of Benin recently where Songhai farms have a vast farm and training facilities to be trained on modern farming.
He disclosed that Project Awake by the state government is geared towards empowering women in the state, adding that the project gives loans to women entrepreneurs, and emphasized that the effort hopes to benefit about 4,000 women in the state. He also explained that a considerable number of youths have been empowered through the project.
He hinted that there are a number of programs instituted by Cross River Agricultural Empowerment Scheme (CARES) such as the Wilma out-growers scheme, maintaining that more than 500 youths have been employed and given two hectares of land each to cultivate oil palm. He also informed that Wilma gives them specified seeds to plant, while CARES ensures that these youths are not cheated.
Aniyom also revealed that Dansa, a pineapple juice factory project established by Dangote for the production of first concentrate plant has acquired several hectares of land in Oban and is also using CARES out-grower scheme to produce the juice now sent to Lagos.