The Oyo State government has approved the $1.7 million for the second phase of the Start Them Early Programme (STEP), an initiative to encourage and redirect the aspirations of young secondary school children in the state to agribusiness.
The programme is a collaboration between the Oyo State government and the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA).
Wasiu Olatubosun, the state commissioner for information, disclosing this on Wednesday, said the amount would cover six additional secondary schools across six federal constituencies not captured in the first batch of the programme, in which six secondary schools benefited.
“Sequel to the successful implementation of the Start Them Early Programme, Step, in Oyo State, it has been further extended to another six schools across the state.
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“The STEP programme is aimed at building the next generation in agribusiness by redirecting the aspirations of secondary school students towards career and business opportunities in modern agriculture, and changing the negative perception about agriculture being a cultural practice to a business venture, from which they can make a living.
“The Oyo State executive council approved for the second phase of the STEP programme a sum of $1.7m, and it is to be paid to the IITA for the second phase of the STEP programme.
“The programme will kick off in another six schools from federal constituencies, which were not captured in the first phase of the programme.”
Olatubosun explained that the money would be paid in three tranches, saying, “$680,000 for the first tranche on February 1, 2022; the second tranche will be paid on July 1, 2022, and it will be a payment of $578,000 while the third tranche will be paid in November 2022, and it will be $442,000.
We believe we should spread the programme across the 14 federal constituencies in the state,” he said.
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