Oyo state governor, ‘Seyi Makinde has extended its Agri-Business initiative programme otherwise known STEP to six secondary schools in the federal constituencies.
The Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Dr. Wasiu Olatubosun noted that the State Executive Council led by Governor ‘Seyi Makinde has approved $1.7 million for the second phase of the Oyo Agric initiative STEP in conjunction with International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA.
It would be recalled that the Oyo State Government and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in July 2020, launched a joint new initiative known as the Start Them Early Programme (STEP), aimed at introducing agribusiness training in secondary schools in Oyo state.
The Start Them Early Programme (STEP), an IITA initiative conceived in 2018, aims at advancing agribusiness development to secondary schools in Africa.
The programme is being run by Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency (OYSADA) in conjunction with the IITA.
The overall objective of STEP-Oyo is to steer younger generations towards agriculture and agribusiness as a career path at an early age and provide them with hands-on experiences required for a lifetime of success in the industry.
An initial six schools have now been identified for the takeoff of the STEP project following the government’s directive, with many more schools pencilled to benefit from the programme in the future.
The six schools were selected following a survey of 528 public schools in 26 local government areas across the 6 geo-political zones in Oyo state and a physical inspection of 28 schools in rural, pre-urban and urban areas.
The initially selected schools include Bishop Philips Academy, Iwo Road (Ibadan North East LG), Methodist High School (Oluyole LG) Christ High School, Oleyo (Oluyole LG), Iresaadu High School, Iresaadu (Surulere LG), Adegun-Asake Grammar School (Ibarapa North LG) and United Missionary Church of Africa (UMCA), Igbeti (Olorunsogo LG).
Meanwhile, Hon. Olatubosun has stressed that the approved money will be paid in three trenches to IITA starting the first payment from February, second payment in July while Third payment will be paid in December this year.