The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) in Nigeria has called on Kwara State citizens to support the state administration’s efforts to create employment for youths and women in the state.

During her visit to a group of white farmers at a diary farm in Shonga, Kwara State at the weekend, the National Coordinator of the Implementation Committee of the NEPAD / African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Group, Chief (Mrs) Chinyere Asika, said that the citizens can earn more money from government’s initiatives.
Asika said such initiatives in the state were a fundamental way to guide against unemployment. "The citizens of this state including the youth should rally round and support the laudable initiative by the state government. Allowing the farm to be sustained will guide us against importation of milk worth $500 million annually and this will go a long way to safeguard the country’s economy," she said

Earlier, the leader of the white farmers called the New Nigerian Farmers, Mr. Allan Jack, said that milk from the dairy factory would be made available to Nigerians soon, especially to children who need milk for their growth and development.
He said that the white farmers would train the indigenous Fulani people on how best to produce milk and cheese for consumption, stressing that more than 100 cows have been bought from the Fulanis to breed them with high-breed Chelsea Cows from South Africa.

Mr. Jack stressed that they will do their best to ensure that the Kwara State government achieves success in its commercial agricultural programme, adding that they will make the state a pace-setter in agriculture in the country.

In his remarks, visiting APRM Ambassador Prof. Bethuel Kiplagat said that the team was in the country for the review report ahead of the July conference of the African Union, adding that the programme should not be credited to the elites.

Past activities of the review team, he said, include the National Dialogue on the APRM Validation Exercise where the president, Umar Musa Yar’Adua, and the state governors were called upon to scrap the office of the Auditor-General at all tiers of government, as part of efforts to canvass independent auditors for govern-ment’s accounts. He commended Nigerians for their contribution to the review and urged cooperation with the governments at all levels.