By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA- AS economic  realities continue to appear real to young Nigerians, particularly graduates, some of them are dumping what they originally studied in higher institution to other ventures for survival and sustenance.

A female accountant, Evian Aighewi, who graduated from Wesley University, Ondo State, said agribusiness pays more than her field of study, which prompted her to go into yam processing for various confectionaries, including yam cake, pan-cake, cookies, chim-chim, and others.

According to Aighewi one of her friends informed her about the Empowering Novel Agribusiness-Led Employment, ENABLE, programme, at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA, although yet to be fully started in Nigeria, which is funded by African Development Bank, AfDB.

Becoming entrepreneurs

According to her the ENABLE programme has about 77 young graduates undergoing training, which IITA Abuja Station has 33 participants, and others are in Ibadan, Congo, Cameroon, and other places.

She further stated that AfDB gives loan to grandaunts to establish themselves as a way of supporting them to become entrepreneurs and utilise the knowledge and skill acquired.

She said: “When I finished my mandatory National Youth Service in 2016, one of my colleagues told me about the programme, ENABLE, sponsored by the African Development Bank, AfDB, at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA, Kubwa Station in Abuja. The programme is going to last for five years.

“When I was taken, the authority put me in the fisheries and livestock unit. I used to make banana cakes, banana bread, pineapple cakes, and others, sell while I continued with my training on fisheries and livestock.

“The way it started that I became a yam processor was on a day those who are into yam programme at IITA were having a day called ‘Yam Day’ approached me and gave me their recipe book and told me to create something out of it because they know that I bake.

“I am the only person in the country who processes yam into cakes, cookies, pan-cakes and pastries because I don’t know anybody in that area, rather most people use pound boiled and slow with soup, others use the flour for amala dish. That made me to go into yam processing venture.

“The yam which is called dioscorea alata, popularly known as ‘water yam’, is better for processing because it is recommended for diabetic patients to take because of its low starch content. I processed it into yam cake, fish and meat pies, including other pastries.”

She explained that the processing of yam into confectionaries include peeling the bark of the yam, sliced into tiny beats, apply a chemical called sodium metabisulphite, to keep it white or put them into hot water for about three minutes then remove and dry them under the sun for two days, and then taken to the mill for grinding. After this the process of making yam cake and other confectionaries begins. However, she (Aighewi) is yet to go into mass production as she is still with IITA.