Winners Emerge at Pan African School Agric Debate
Winners have emerged at the just concluded maiden edition of the Pan African Senior Secondary School Agricultural Debate (PASSSAD) organized by Africa Agriculture Agenda (AAA).
Among ten participating secondary schools, Hebron Heights College emerged overall winner.
Other winners included Good Shepherd Schools which came second while Diadem College emerged third, at the event which took place at Vision House, beside Lagos Business School, Lekki-Epe Expressway, Lagos.
The three winners are expected to defend their respective trophies against top schools in the Lagos leg of the championship.
The qualifying series will hold in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), with the grand finale in Abuja
According to AAA which is subsidiary of Surveillance Media Limited, the event is put up as an avenue to inculcate in the students the spirit of leadership and also instil in them the attitude of embracing agriculture as a panacea to the problem of food insecurity.
Speaking at the event, the Convener, Mr Nathaniel Akhigbe, said“ Hunger is a disease that many people fail to deal with and has killed many as a results of poor ideology of agriculture.
“I challenge all the students and youths here to take a stand for farming, this is what we hope to achieve with PASSSAD.
“We hope to help you see a green future ahead of you with agriculture. PASSSAD also seeks to create academic media content for secondary schooling, by senior secondary school students, for secondary school students and those raising them”, he said.
He went further to explain that
The United States Department of Agriculture reports for 2018 states that the US agro exports was $335 million (over 121 billion naira).
It stated that condiments and sauces, corn, prepared food, soya beans, wheat, wine and beer were the agro products that handed US farmers money that could be ours. The case is the same with Europe and China.
Within the period, Nigerian farmers’ agro exports to the US in the same year was a paltry $49 million(N17.7bn).
Contributing, Dr Bola Adekoya, former director of Fisheries,Ogun State applauded the initiative of the organisers and appeal for the need for such an educative, and interactive forum to continue .
“This is one event we didn’t have in our time as often as we desire and I will encourage the Convener to continue on this platform to get our secondary schools students acquainted on the importance of agriculture“ he maintained.
He decried a situation where Nigeria could not feed it’s citizens. The current agro trade imbalance between Nigeria and the West will get worse if students don’t see agriculture as a money spinning business. Nations are poor or rich depending on who are its farmers-smallholders or commercial farmers.
Reminded them that drugs, soap and lotions notwithstanding are sourced from agriculture
On behalf of the participating schools, Mrs Paulina Adeyeye, proprietress of Topflight College, applauded the organizers for the opportunity given to them to be part of the historic event.
“I am proud to be here today and thank the convener for this great event. It is an eye opener and I will continue to support events like this“.
The event featured seasoned panel of judges who are rooted in agriculture as, Dr. Ikechi Agbugba, Lecturer, Rivers State University and research fellow with AAA; Dr. Bola Adekoya, former director of Fisheries, Ogun State; Mrs Oluwafunmi Olusanya, Fellow, Fisheries Society of Nigeria; Vera Ebonhon, Agribusiness Finance, Sterling Bank Plc, and Barrister Nneka Amucheazi, legal practitioner.
