ICDA–Leventis Partnership Opens 2026 Agripreneurship Training for Ijesa Youths

The Ijesa Community Development Assembly (ICDA), in partnership with the Leventis Nigeria School of Agriculture, has officially opened applications for the 2026 Agripreneurship Training Programme aimed at empowering Ijesa youths with sustainable agricultural and entrepreneurial skills.

The one-year fully sponsored programme offers successful candidates free tuition, training materials, accommodation, daily meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner), as well as monthly stipends throughout the training period. The initiative is designed to produce self-reliant agribusiness entrepreneurs who will become employers of labour and contributors to the national and global economy.

Speaking on the initiative, Erelu Adejumoke Olafadehan, the Coordinator of the ICDA–Leventis Partnership, described the programme as a transformational opportunity for unemployed and underemployed youths across Ijesaland. She emphasized that the partnership was deliberately structured to remove financial barriers that often prevent young people from pursuing careers in agriculture.

According to Erelu Olafadehan, the ICDA will also go beyond training by facilitating access to financial credits and grants for willing graduates at the end of the one-year programme, enabling them to establish viable agribusiness ventures.

She further explained that the programme is community-driven, with ICDA calling on all towns and communities in Ijesaland to ensure that at least one eligible youth is nominated. This, she said, will guarantee equitable spread of the socioeconomic empowerment initiative across the entire region.

Erelu Olafadehan appealed to traditional rulers and chiefs in Ijesaland to actively mobilise youths within their domains and forward the names of qualified Ijesa indigene candidates for the programme. All shortlisted applicants, she noted, will sit for an admission examination scheduled for January 2026.

She added that at the conclusion of the selection process, the names, towns and local government areas of successful candidates will be publicly released, expressing confidence that no community in Ijesaland would be left out.

The programme is open to university graduates, polytechnic and NCE holders, WASC certificate holders, as well as JSS 3 certificate holders.

All applications and enquiries are to be submitted to [email protected] and via WhatsApp on 09120369647.

Also speaking on the initiative, the Chairman of ICDA and Asiwaju of Ijesaland, Asiwaju Olayinka Fasuyi, reaffirmed the Assembly’s commitment to youth empowerment and agricultural development, urging stakeholders to support the programme by ensuring wide dissemination of the information.

The ICDA called for broad circulation of the opportunity to ensure that every eligible youth in Ijesaland is informed and able to participate.