The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), in collaboration with the Benue State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), has intensified efforts to strengthen practical agricultural learning in basic schools across Benue State.
This formed the focus of an Advocacy and Campaign Awareness Meeting on the Agricultural Education Training Programme (AETP), held Friday at the Fr. Alia Multi-Purpose Hall at the SUBEB Headquarters in Makurdi. The meeting brought together key stakeholders in the basic education sector as part of a broader strategy to deepen agricultural skill development among pupils.
In her welcome address, the Executive Chairman of Benue SUBEB, Dr Grace Adagba, explained that the programme is being implemented under the 2024 UBEC/SUBEB Matching Grant Intervention and will establish agricultural enterprises in nine pilot schools across the three senatorial districts of the state.
According to her, the initiative is designed to expose learners to practical crop and livestock production, including maize, sweet potatoes, sweet melon, guinea corn, fish farming, poultry, duck and turkey rearing. She described the programme as a deliberate effort to reconnect classroom learning with productivity.
Dr Adagba urged head teachers, Agricultural Science teachers, School-Based Management Committees, Parent-Teacher Associations and Education Secretaries to work collaboratively to ensure the success, sustainability and proper management of the programme and its proceeds.
Delivering the keynote address, 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.
She reaffirmed the commitment of the Benue State Government under the leadership of Governor Rev. Fr. Dr Hyacinth Iormem Alia to transforming education through agriculture. She noted that the establishment of school farms and the distribution of 51,624 agricultural implements to schools under the 2022/2023 UBEC–SUBEB Matching Grant Intervention aligns with the objectives of the Agricultural Education Training Programme.
In separate goodwill messages, the 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, described agriculture as a critical driver of national development and encouraged stakeholders to utilise the programme to equip learners with practical skills.
They also commended the leadership of the SUBEB Chairman, Dr Grace Adagba, for what they described as her transformative efforts in the state’s basic education sector.
Speaking on behalf of participants, the Head of Academic Services, Ohimini LGEA, Comrade Kabiru Ibrahim, praised the board’s reform initiatives and described the Agricultural Education Training Programme as a valuable platform for nurturing learners’ practical abilities. He added that the programme complements other initiatives such as the SUBEB School Talent Hunt and football tournaments.
The Agricultural Education Training Programme forms part of the broader vision of UBEC and Benue SUBEB to integrate practical agriculture into basic education across the state while contributing to food security and sustainable development.
