Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture Prince Gbolahan Lawal has expressed the readiness and determination of the government to complete abandoned projects in the agricultural sector.

He said particularly the Songhai Model of the Agricultural Youth Empowerment Scheme (Agric Yes) located at Avia-Igborosun in the Badagry Local Government.

The commissioner, who disclosed this in Lagos at the weekend when he led a delegation of the government officials that included the Special Adviser to the Governor on Agriculture, Ms Abisola Olusanya, to inspect the facility, said the scheme is one of the major empowerment programmes in the agricultural sector for youths being implemented by the government.

He said that upon assumption of office in July, he inaugurated the development of a roadmap with the theme: “A Sustainable Inclusive Growth Strategy with the Citizens at the Core”, adding that one of the outcomes of that roadmap is the need to empower no fewer than 15,000 youths and women within the next four years in line with the roadmap.

Lawal said that the Songhai model was a product of a collaboration between the state government and the Songhai Regional Centre, Porto Novo, Benin Republic, adding that the programme was geared towards encouraging organic farming and using simple biological methods to enhance production outputs.