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Plateau State University Receives Tractor to Boost Agricultural Training
Plateau State University has received a tractor donation from the state government, marking a significant step in enhancing its agricultural training and production programs.
The Vice Chancellor, Professor Shedrack Best, expressed gratitude to Governor Caleb Mutfwang for the gesture, which aligns with efforts to modernize agriculture in the state.
The tractor donation is part of the Governor’s agricultural transformation plan, specifically the Agro Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscape Project. The initiative seeks to improve agricultural training and production across the state. Governor Mutfwang on January 20 expressed his administration’s commitment to mechanize agriculture in Plateau State, lamenting only 0.05% is currently mechanized.
“We aim to take away the hoes and cutlasses and bring technology to meet the food needs of Plateau State,” said Governor Mutfwang, represented by Samson Bugama, the State’s Commissioner of Agriculture. The Governor announced plans to acquire more tractors, power tillers, and establish state plantations to encourage youths in agriculture.
“Last year, we cultivated 6,000 hectares but this year we’re looking at cultivating 15,000 hectares for vulnerable communities, schools in particular. So one of the things His Excellency has asked us to do is to go around secondary schools and cultivate their land just so we can build interest in agriculture,” the Governor said.
“But the first thing we need to do is strengthen the institutions that help our young people to learn agriculture and takeaway the drudgery that comes with agriculture,” he said.
The university was among five institutions to receive tractors donated by the World Bank. Despite receiving only one unit, the university’s excitement was palpable. Vice Chancellor Best highlighted the university’s agricultural resources, including a dam, the Agricultural Services and Training Corporation (ASTC), and vast land.
“Our young students will be excited to see these machines. They will use it for learning. It will motivate them and there are other agricultural resources around us,” said Prof. Best.
“We are a rural university and we are located at the hub of agriculture. A lot of farming activity takes place there,” Professor Best said.
“So whether it is in research or in actual tillage of land or in animal husbandry, in all the areas, when we bring our faculty of Agriculture which is young and ambitious and growing into place, we believe that we have a lot to contribute including to other agencies who have benefited today from this gesture,” Professor Best stated.
Troops of the Nigerian Army have rescued 15 kidnap victims and arrested two suspected kidnappers in separate operations across Edo, Kaduna, Benue, Kogi and Plateau states.
An operational report indicated that the operations were conducted between October 1 and 2.
In Edo State, the report said the troops of 195 Battalion, responding to a kidnap incident along the Ekor-Ikakumo road in Akoko-Edo, rescued three victims.
It said the troops exploited the kidnappers’ withdrawal route and rescued the victims, including the driver of a passenger bus travelling from Makurdi to Ibadan, Oyo State.
In Kaduna State, the report said the troops of Sector 7, Operation Enduring Peace (OPEP), foiled a kidnap attempt along the Godogodo-Gidan Waya road in the Jema’a Local Government Area.
It added that the intervention forced the kidnappers to abandon a victim who sustained gunshot wounds and flee.
According to the report, the victim was evacuated to the General Hospital, Gidan Waya, for treatment, while efforts were ongoing to apprehend the fleeing criminals.
“In another operation, troops of the same sector arrested two suspected kidnappers at Makasa Village in Sanga Local Government Area.
“Meanwhile, troops of Operation Whirl Stroke (OPWS) rescued six kidnapped victims in separate operations in Benue and Kogi.
“In Katsina-Ala, Benue, troops responded to kidnapping activities at Gbise, forcing the criminals to flee and abandon three victims,” it said.
The report addedthat troops operating in conjunction with vigilantes rescued three kidnapped herders at Agbadu Bunu, Kabba-Bunu Local Government Area of Kogi State.
It added that the criminals fled following the troops’ intervention, abandoning the victims and 21 cattle, which were also recovered.
In Rivers State, the report said the troops of 16 Brigade, in conjunction with 5 Battalion, discovered 60 sacks containing about 3,000 litres of illegally refined products and a drum at Ogbogolo Community, Ahoada West Local Government Area.
The report added that therecovered items were handled in line with extant regulations.
(NAN)
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