THE Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises for Niger Delta (LIFE-ND) says it has impacted no fewer than 4,373 youths, women and persons with disabilities (PWDs) in the project’s first phase in Delta State.
The Delta State Coordinator, LIFE-ND, Mr Collins Ashoro, disclosed this while briefing newsmen on the project’s recorded achievement in its first phase of six years and its advancement to the second phase in the state.
Our correspondent reports that LIFE-ND Project is a tripartite agribusiness sponsored programme of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) in collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Ashoro said that the project started in 2019 with 10 selected Local Government Areas (LGAs) as pioneer with beneficiaries being trained in four priority commodities and their value chains in Delta.
“The commodities in which beneficiaries were trained are fishery, oil palm processing, cassava and poultry production.
“The project employed the Agribusiness incubator model of ‘Oga and Boy’ or ‘Master and Apprentice’ or ‘Incubator and Incubatee’,” he said.
According to Ashoro, the project’s life cycle is 12 years disaggregated into two phases of six years each.
He said that the first phase, which began in 2019, was completed in Delta State in March 2025, while the second phase began with additional financing in October 2025 to run through 2031.
“The project is in response to the limited and not-readily available agricultural entrepreneurial skills options that face youths, women and persons with disabilities in the Niger Delta region.
“The project has received Gov. Sheriff Oborevwori’s approval to pay counterpart fund for the outstanding three years which was last paid in year 2020.”
The LIFE-ND coordinator appealed to the state government to pay up its outstanding counterpart fund, given the project’s achievement in its first phase, to enable it consolidate on the success in the second phase.
He said the project built physical structures, completed projects like earthen ponds, lock up and open market stalls, cassava processing plants, drainages and mini-poultry.
Ashoro said further that economic trees were planted in the first phase to help curb environmental degradation and financing and insurance services were facilitated for beneficiaries.
The coordinator said: “In its first phase, the project trained 143 incubators, 4,373 incubatees with 28 high-performing incubatees upgraded to incubators in the 10 participating LGAs in Delta.
“Also, 4,275 enterprises and new jobs in cassava, oil palm, poultry and fish value chains were created and over N2.75 billion gross income generated between year 2020 and 2024 across the state’s commodity value chains.
