Education Minister approves instituting Students’ Agribusiness Clubs in Unity Schools

ABUJA (Federal Ministry of Education Report) – The Minister of Education, Ibrahim Shekarau has advocated for the provision of additional skills for secondary school students aside from their areas of specialization, in order to further equip them for the future.

The Minister said this while receiving the Senior Special Assistant to the President (SSAP) on Schools Agriculture Programme, Baraka Sani (Dr), noting that this would impart a sense of nation building and patriotism as well as enable them to positively contribute to national growth and development.

Ibrahim Shekarau expressed regret that the laudable programmes initiated by successive governments including the ‘Operation Feed the Nation (OFN),’ and ‘Green Revolution,’ etc has become moribund because of the misplacement of priorities and political instability. According to him, the proposal by the Office of SSAP to establish the ‘Students Agribusiness Club (SAC)’ for young people in secondary schools is very laudable, commendable and aligns with the catch-them-young philosophy. “It would bring about attitudinal change towards agriculture and related allied professional fields like poultry, animal and fish farming, among others,” he observed.

The Minister directed that all the 104 Unity Schools in Nigeria should set up the ‘Students Agric-Business Clubs (SACs)’ since it is a creditable ideas. “We look forward to partnering with you to practically get our schools fully involved and participating in the programme.  The matter of getting TETFUND to support the Colleges of Agriculture has been tabled before the Ministry by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), but that the enabling laws of TETFUND have to be amended before any action can be taken in this regard,” the Minister said.

In her address at the occasion, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Schools Agriculture Programme, Baraka Sani (Dr) recalled that her office was created by President Goodluck Jonathan on June 4, 2014 with the mandate to implement a comprehensive agricultural programme that will expose young students to the different opportunities available in Agriculture as a business. He added that the office was to promote life skills, change the negative perception about agriculture by the youths and contribute to ensuring diversification in the nation’s economy in line with Vision 2020 and the Agricultural Transformation Agenda.

Baraka Sani also requested that the Schools Agriculture Programme be mainstreamed into the National Secondary Curriculum by NERDC and be adopted by the National Council on Education at the end of the six-year life span as an extra-curricular and after school activity in all secondary schools.