TThe Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) in collaboration with the Benue State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), held an Advocacy and Campaign Awareness Meeting on Agricultural Education Training Programme (AETP) on Friday, at the Fr. Alia Multi-Purpose Hall, SUBEB Headquarters, Makurdi, to strategize and strengthen the implementation of practical agricultural learning in schools across the state.
In her welcome address, the Executive Chairman of Benue SUBEB, Dr. Grace Adagba, said “the Agricultural Education Training Programme (AETP), implemented under the 2024 UBEC/SUBEB Matching Grant Intervention, aims to establish agricultural enterprises in nine pilot schools across the three senatorial districts of the state. This initiative will expose learners to practical crop and livestock production, including maize, sweet potatoes, sweet melon, guinea corn, fishery, poultry, duck, and turkey farming”
Dr. Adagba stressed that the programme reconnects classroom learning with productivity, urging Head-teachers, Agricultural Science teachers, School-Based Management Committees (SBMCs), Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs), and Education Secretaries to work collaboratively to ensure its success, sustainability, and judicious use of its proceeds.
The Commissioner for Education and Knowledge Management, Dr. Margaret Adamu, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Basic Education, Mrs. Bibiana Tyoishi, commended UBEC and SUBEB for the initiative and reaffirmed the Governor Alia-led administration’s commitment to transforming education through agriculture. She highlighted the establishment of school farms and the distribution of 51,624 agricultural implements to schools under the 2022/2023 UBEC–SUBEB Matching Grant Intervention as aligning with the objectives of the AETP Programme.
UBEC State Coordinator, Mr. Idzi Baba Emmanuel, and the Chairman of the Benue State House of Assembly Committee on Basic Education, Dr. Elias Audu, represented by Miss Nancy Dura, identified agriculture as a critical driver of national development and encouraged stakeholders to utilise the programme to help learners develop practical skills.
Responding on behalf of participants, the Head of Academic Services, Ohimini LGEA, Comrade Kabiru Ibrahim, commended SUBEB for its transformative initiatives and described the AETP as a valuable platform for nurturing learners’ practical abilities, complementing other initiatives such as the SUBEB School Talent Hunt and football tournaments.
