3 weeks ago
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The Federal Ministry of Education, successful collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, has unveiled reforms to modernise cultivation curricula, pull young people, and align grooming with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s docket for a technology-driven cultivation sector.
At the presumption of the caller Agricultural Curriculum Framework successful Abuja, the curate of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, described the inaugural arsenic a pivotal measurement successful repositioning agriculture arsenic a pillar of nationalist development.
In a property connection issued by the director, Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Education, Boriowo Folasade, the curate expressed interest implicit the persistent diminution successful enrolment into cultivation grade programmes successful the nation’s tertiary institutions contempt the government’s dense concern successful the sector.
Alausa said successful the 2024 UTME statistic connected applications and admissions, 47.92% of the allocated admissions were not utilised. While determination are thousands of unfastened slots successful cultivation courses annually, lone a fraction is filled, posing a superior situation to Nigeria’s semipermanent nutrient information and economical growth.
“Agriculture is simply a large nationalist priority, but enrolment successful agriculture successful higher institutions is dropping,” helium said. “In the past 3 years, determination person been thousands of unfastened slots successful agriculture, but lone a fraction has been taken.
“This is simply a superior gap, particularly successful an country that should guarantee nutrient information for Nigeria and marque the state an export hub for cultivation products,” helium said.
The curate contrasted this with the increasing enthusiasm for vocational and method cultivation training. “Of the implicit 900,000 TVET applications received recently, much than 210,000 were for livestock farming alone, portion agriculture wide ranked adjacent to garment making, which recorded implicit 260,000 applicants.
“This shows that young Nigerians are anxious to summation applicable cultivation skills, but the outdated tertiary program has not kept gait with modern realities,” Alausa said.
He reiterated the ministry’s committedness to modernising cultivation acquisition to conscionable manufacture needs and align with emerging opportunities.
“That’s wherefore the Ministry of Education and authorities governments person agreed to modernise the program to conscionable the needs of modern cultivation education.
“Under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, the authorities has already begun creating Special Agricultural Processing and Production Zones to adhd worth and make caller worth chains that volition employment hundreds of thousands of Nigerians,” the curate said.
He cited Republic of Benin’s fabric processing exemplary bordering Borgu, Niger State, arsenic an illustration of worth summation and younker empowerment.
“Benin moved from earning $500 cardinal successful earthy fabric exports to $12 cardinal successful processed fabric products, employing implicit 25,000 young people. Nigeria volition replicate this occurrence done program betterment and applicable cultivation acquisition that supports our accumulation zones and export diversification goals.”
The curate of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, echoed Alausa’s position, emphasising that Nigeria’s nutrient sovereignty docket demands a broad overhaul of cultivation education.
“As Nigeria seeks to diversify, we request much radical engaged successful cultivation enterprise. Food information cannot beryllium achieved without aligning our acquisition and grooming systems with nationalist priorities. Our program indispensable equip graduates with theoretical cognition and the applicable skills and innovation needed to thrust cultivation transformation.”
The recently developed Agricultural Curriculum Framework provides a roadmap for modernising cultivation education, strengthening method and vocational training.
It besides aligns Nigeria’s acquisition strategy with planetary champion practices to enactment the nation’s nutrient security, younker employment and economical diversification agenda.
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