Benue to merge Yandev agric college with state varsity

BENUE State Government has concluded plans to upgrade the College of Agriculture, Yandev, to a degree awarding institution, merging the institution with the state university in order to boost agricultural productivity.

Governor Samuel Ortom made this known in Abuja when he paid a courtesy visit to the Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Prof. Suleiman Bogoro.

Ortom said that the College of Agriculture would be merged with the Benue State University. The British Government established the college located near Gboko, in 1926 as a farm-training centre.

In a similar development, Governor Ortom has charged members of the visitation panel to the Benue State University, (BSU) to ensure absolute confidentiality of all presentations received from interested parties.

Ortom, who gave the charge at the old Banquet Hall of the Peoples House while inaugurating the panel, maintained that it is by keeping the confidence of those concerned that they would feel free to make contributions without fear of reprisals.

“Individual members of staff as well as the public at large should feel free to contribute positively while stressing that the visitation panel was a stock-taking exercise targeted at the comprehensive review of the activities of Benue State University during the period under review,” he stated.

The governor continued that his vision was to make the state the food basket of Africa, adding that the fusion of both institutions would make it a reality.
“For us to boost agricultural production in the country, our plan is to merge the College of Education, Yandev, with Benue State University, Makurdi. We dream to be the food basket of Africa and not just food basket of the nation and to achieve this, we intend to take the bull by the horn and the strategy is to catch them young.

“We are training and equipping our young ones to go into agriculture, looking at the value chain addition in agricultural products,” Ortom said.
The governor said that, creating job opportunities for young graduates was also paramount on his agenda.