Unilorin Introduces COBES Into Agric Curriculum
By Damilola Oyewole
A student working on a
soyabeans
farm.THE aim of the Fac ulty of Agriculture, Univer- sity of Ilorin, at producing competent graduates who can be engaged in the country’s agricultural sector is gradually being realised.
Part of the larger objective is to produce graduates who would function either in the public or private sectors of the economy as job creators, by setting up agricultural enterprises all over the country.
As part of plans to achieve this, students are being exposed to the theory and practice of animal production breeding, nutrition, disease prevention and control, animal production and processing, crop production, land evaluation and management, crop breeding and crop protection.
Others are social behaviours, agricultural communication, rural development planning and agricultural extensions principle and methodology, the economics and management of agricultural resources, among others with a view to optimising farm profits.
The students are engaged in farm practical training Programme between their 400 and 500 level years. During the period of the farm practical programme, students are expected to be engaged in the cultivation (planting, maintenance, harvesting, processing and bagging) of different arable crops commonly grown in the locality, exposed to husbandry practices for different classes of farm animals and be involved in the administration, collation and analysis of questionnaires in designated villages in the area of agricultural economics and farm management as well as agricultural extension and rural development.
Also, as part of the decision to ensure that the students have hands-on training and experience, the university has introduced the Community Based Experience Services (COBES) into the curriculum of Faculty of Agriculture.
Considering the fact that agriculture is a course that requires theoretical as well as practical experience, the authority has concluded plans to send the students to rural areas for field experience.
COBES is a multi-dimensional project where the host community benefits from the students and the students also benefit from the wealth of experience their hosts have garnered over the years.
In the past, only medical and health science students took part the COBES, but with the emphasis the Federal Government is placing on agriculture, as a part of President Umaru Yar’Adua’s Seven-Point Agenda, the faculty has taken an extra step in ensuring that products of the faculty remain relevant to the society in their field of study.
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Fire Razes
Uniben Female
Hostel Rooms - Students’ Property
Destroyed
By Folusade Ajayi
THERE was pandemonium at the
University of Benin about four weeks ago following a fire outbreak which originated from one of the female halls of the university.
The fire incident came two days after the institution commenced its first semester examination. The incident happened in Hall 2, Block C, of the female hostel as a result of electrical fault.
The fire outbreak affected two rooms in the hall (rooms 404 and 405). There was no loss of lives, the fire consumed students’ property and credentials due to slow rescue operation. The once beautiful hostel is now a shadow of its former self as a result of the inferno.
The affected students who lost personal effects such as certificates, clothes,shoes, bags, cosmetics, kitchen utensils, textbooks and many vital documents, are now in a dilemma as to how to recover the vital documents.
Some of the students now rely on good samaritans for what to wear.
The Dean of Students Affairs, Mr. Eddy Erahgbehe, allayed the students’ fears by promising to help them recover some of their credentials.
Also, the Students Union of the University is assisting the affected students. It has embarked on voluntary fund- raising through fellow students who have been charged to come to the aid of their colleagues.
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