Benue SUBEB collaborates with UBEC to strengthen practical agricultural skills in Basic Schools

Benedicta Aboh

As part of strategic efforts to strengthen the implementation of practical agricultural learning in schools across the state, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) in collaboration with the Benue State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) on Friday, convened an Advocacy and Campaign Awareness Meeting on Agricultural Education Training Programme (AETP).

According to a statement by the Special Assistant to the Executive Chairman of Benue SUBEB on Corporate Communications and Community Engagements, Msughter John Ataigbough, the event which held at the Fr. Alia Multi-Purpose Hall, SUBEB Headquarters, Makurdi, brought together key stakeholders in the basic education sector.

In a welcome address, the Executive Chairman of Benue SUBEB, Dr. Grace Adagba, stated that the programme, implemented under the 2024 UBEC/SUBEB Matching Grant Intervention, aimed at establishing agricultural enterprises in nine pilot schools across the three senatorial districts of the state.

According to her, the initiative will expose learners to practical crop and livestock production including maize, sweet potatoes, sweet melon, guinea corn, fishery, poultry, duck and turkey farming.

She described the programme as a deliberate effort to reconnect classroom learning with productivity, urging Head-teachers, Agricultural Science teachers, School-Based Management Committees (SBMCs), Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs), and Education Secretaries who are active agents, to work collaboratively to ensure its success, sustainability and judicious use of 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 and reaffirmed the Benue State Government’s commitment under the leadership of Governor Hyacinth Alia to transforming education through agriculture, highlighting 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 resonating with the objectives of the AET Programme.

In their separate goodwill messages the UBEC State Coordinator, Mr. Idzi Baba Emmanuel, as well as the Chairman of the Benue State House of Assembly Committee on Basic Education, Dr. Elias Audu, represented by Miss Nancy Dura, both regarded agriculture as a critical driver of national development and encouraged stakeholders to utilise the programme to help learners develop practical skills.

They also acknowledged the impeccable leadership of the Executive Chairman, Benue SUBEB, Dr. Grace Adagba, describing her as an Amazon of transformation.

Also responding on behalf of participants, the  Head of Academic Services, Ohimini LGEA, Comrade Kabiru Ibrahim, commended the Benue SUBEB under the  leadership of Dr. Grace Adagba for its transformative initiatives and described the AETP as a valuable platform for nurturing learners’ practical abilities while complementing other initiatives such as the SUBEB School Talent Hunt and football tournaments.

The Agricultural Education Training Programme represents part of the vision of UBEC and SUBEB in integrating practical agriculture into basic education across Benue State and ensuring food security for all.