There is an old Yoruba song titled ‘Ko ko ka’, that is used to encourage children to go to school and learn, to be successful in life. It says, “My shoes will make a rich sound if I study hard in school”. Unfortunately, this has not been the situation of many tertiary institution graduates in Nigeria due to unemployability (as a result of outdated curriculum practices) and unemployment (as a result of lack of job creations).

In Oyo State however, measures are put in place to checkmate these irregularities as the Seyi Makinde led administration in partnership with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), has initiated a Start Them Early Programme (STEP); steered towards ensuring that young people learn agriculture (as the focal point for the economy of the State) in theory and practice, right from secondary school.

The objectives of this project is to overhaul existing agriculture curricula and steer towards electronic-based learning in secondary schools. This annuls the pre-existing abstract theories and outdated curriculum practices that have produced unemployable graduates over the years. More so, molding these potential graduates from their secondary school levels will create an inhibition towards agribusiness from an early stage.

Through this process, students are taught the value chain of agriculture; from crop production, mechanization, livestock production, value addition, to ICT; providing them with a diverse range of opportunities.

This concurrently reduces unemployability by equipping young people with skills, and simultaneously reduces unemployment.

With this initiative, young people are integrated into the agricultural niche from a early stage of their lives; providing them with the opportunity of a long term experience and a career path that aligns with the economic focus of the State; and exposing them to becoming sustainable developers of the State, and the nation, concurrently.

This project also tends to reduce unnecessary, unprofitable and exuberant activities among young people by propelling them early towards being a force to reckon with in economic advancement and nation building in coming years; as aids in repositioning us as major exporters again.

The Governor relates this scheme to some social and productive Clubs in the 80s and 90s such as the “Young Farmer’s Club” and “School to Land Programme” which he believes were the foundation of some renowned farmers today.

With the advancement of this project in Oyo State, more young people will get interested and involved in agriculture; making agriculture easy and accessible to all, thereby creating room for mass involvement and mass production.

This goes a long way in becoming a nationally adopted programme that will be credited to Oyo State as once again setting the pace.