Chairman, Ikorodu Local Government, Lagos State, Wasiu Adesina, on Tuesday promised to sponsor 50 youths for agricultural training in different countries.

Mr Adesina told journalists in Ikorodu that the trip would be in batches to study different production processes and modern farming techniques.

According to the council boss, the training will bring a lot of positive benefits to the local government, Lagos State and the nation at large.

“My administration is committed to youth empowerment, education, health and infrastructural development. This year, my administration will sponsor 50 youths, including councillors and supervisors, to foreign countries to understudy modern techniques in agriculture.

“They will come back and impart the knowledge to other youths so they can begin careers in agriculture and be employers of labour. It is only by doing this that our youths will escape the scourge of criminality. Training and job creation are a huge impetus for our administration to continue to sponsor youths on overseas training,’’ Mr Adesina said.

He stressed that his administration had taken upon itself the responsibility of sponsoring youths abroad so that they could impart the knowledge gained to others and make them self-reliant.

The council boss said that the selection of beneficiaries would be based on their performance after they had undergone rigorous screening by stakeholders and All Progressive Congress party leaders in the area.

The chairman urged residents to support President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and policies, adding that the president’s policies were to correct microeconomic distortion and make the nation better.

Mr Adesina highlighted some of his administration’s achievements in 2023, including the construction of some link roads and the establishment of computer units to train teachers and students in primary schools.

He said that his administration distributed free 3kg cylinders filled with gas to 1,000 households, constructed boreholes in all the wards, and distributed free GCE and JAMB forms to students seeking admission into tertiary institutions.

The chairman added that his administration had also embarked on the surfacing of major roads, the complete rehabilitation of primary healthcare buildings, and the provision of drugs in the Agura community, among other interventions.

“In 2023, my administration magnanimously embarked on numerous developmental projects that made us win the award for most outstanding local government in Nigeria,” he said.

Similarly, Mr Adesina promised to consolidate on his achievement this year through private-public partnership arrangements and to engage in capital-intensive projects, among which was the construction of a central motor park.

He reiterated his commitment to engaging in more developmental projects for the community and its environs to enjoy more dividends of democracy.

“This year, one of our major projects is the construction of a Central Motor Park to decentralise the roundabout to ease traffic and generate revenue. It is a huge project; some property has to give way, so it is going to be a PPP arrangement and we are going to achieve success,” Mr Adesina said.

(NAN)