Kwara L-PRES Brokers Stakeholders’ Meeting on Youth Financing in Livestock Sector

Kwara State Government has reaffirmed its commitment to boosting youth empowerment and livestock production as a catalyst for economic growth and job creation in the State.

The State Commissioner for Youth Development, Hon. Ndanusa Shehu, stated this during a high-level Stakeholders’ Engagement brokered by the Kwara State Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (L-PRES) and hosted in partnership with the Ministry of Youth Development in Ilorin.

The event brought together major financial institutions - Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Bank of Industry (BOI), and United Bank for Africa (UBA)- who presented a range of affordable loan products and financing options tailored to support youth- and women-led livestock enterprises across the value chain. These facilities include schemes for ruminant production, fodder processing, feedlot operations, veterinary services, and livestock market infrastructure.

Hon. Ndanusa applauded Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for creating an enabling environment and extending strong financial and institutional backing to initiatives that empower youths and strengthen the livestock sector. He urged the participating institutions and other partners to take full advantage of the financing windows and intervention programmes facilitated through Kwara L-PRES, stressing that trained beneficiaries must be linked to capital for sustainable agribusiness development.

Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Youth Development, Mallam Mohammed Yahaya, encouraged youths and women to seize the government’s renewed focus on livestock development, particularly in an era where traditional white-collar jobs are increasingly limited. He emphasized that agribusiness—especially livestock - offers viable, profitable career pathways that can contribute significantly to wealth creation, food security, and rural prosperity.

In his remarks, the State Project Coordinator of Kwara L-PRES, Olusoji Oyawoye, reaffirmed the commitment of the project to supporting youth and women beneficiaries beyond training by ensuring access to finance, markets, and technical advisory services. “Our collective mission is to raise a generation of commercially viable livestock entrepreneurs who can scale their businesses sustainably,” he said. “This engagement is a major step toward unlocking inclusive financing that will enable our youths to thrive in the livestock economy.”

Following the successful meeting with CBN, BOA, BOI and UBA - where financing windows for livestock enterprises were presented - a larger and more strategic Stakeholders’ Engagement will be held in the next few weeks.