The lawmaker representing Patani/Bomadi Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Nicholas Mutu, has facilitated the training and empowering of over seventy constituents on fish farming in line with the federal government agenda of food security in the country.
The programme with the theme, “Development of Fisheries and Aquaculture in South-South Geopolitical Zone, weekend, featured professionals from the Federal College of Fisheries and Marine Technology, FCFMT, Lagos.
Mutu, who has made similar efforts in training and empowering constituents in various endeavours over the years, however, tasked beneficiaries to make good use of the starter packs to better their lives and contribute to the growth of the local economy.
Dr Babatunde Musa, a resource person and senior lecturer of FCFMT, briefing newsmen said trainees had gone through the processes of breeding and growing fish to a table size, stressing the training also entailed marketing of the produce.
He said: “We taught trainees on how to grow fish and other associated business opportunities. We have taken participants through the processes of breeding fish as well as growing fish to a table size.
“The beneficiaries have been enthusiastic during the training and that shows they are actually catching up on the vision of the lawmaker.
“My advice to them is that whatever new skills they have acquired, they should start something with it to contribute to food security in their area and improve their own livelihood. I task them to hit the ground running and start off”.
Lauding the lawmaker on the gesture, former Senior Special Assistant to Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa on Community Development, Hon. Frank Sologidi, thanked Mutu and noted that the people at the grassroots were in dire need of such empowerment programs.
“I so much appreciate the efforts of Hon. Nicholas Mutu in his training and empowerment schemes for his constituents. This is a pointer to the fact that Mutu has the mindset of progress for the people he is representing.
“If politicians upstairs can initiate similar gestures for the people at the grassroots, the people of Bomadi local government area will be very happy and self-reliant”, he said.
In the same vein, Mr Kenneth Ebitonmo, a politician and an indigene of Bomadi town, said the programme was just one of the series of schemes the lawmaker had initiated to better the lives of his constituents.
He said: “I appreciate the efforts of the lawmaker for his people and I advised beneficiaries to take a good course of the training and manifest their skills in profitable ventures”.
However, in their response, the beneficiaries, speaking through Mr Mark Egbebo and Mr Eniye Perewarebo, thanked the lawmaker for the good gesture and pledged to make good use of the starter packs.
