L
LequteMan
Guest
Nigeria’s Federal Universities of Agriculture have been returned from the supervision of the Ministry of Education to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural development, Chief Audu Ogbeh announced this at a recent stakeholders meeting with Vice Chancellors and Governing Boards of the universities in Abuja.
This action- returning the universities to their original supervisory ministry- was aimed at refocusing the institutions to fulfill their core mandates, he said.
The return "will effectively help us to reposition the three universities of agriculture as centres of excellence for the rapid development of the agriculture sector," he said.
"There is no place where the competence and capacity to drive agriculture resides outside the Universities of Agriculture. We need to achieve a hunger-free Nigeria. Henceforth, students who are not interested in becoming farmers should be made to seek admission elsewhere. We are determined to offer you the necessary support for your transformation, for research for a healthier realm of discovery and self-actualisation’’ Chief Ogbeh said.
He said the universities are expected to train Nigerian youths in agriculture, help to move agriculture forward and proffer solutions to the challenges faced in the sector especially in the area of research.
He expressed regrets at the long departure of the universities from agricultural disciplines to non-agriculture courses such as accounting, engineering and medicine etc. which were being taught in the schools and directed that only agriculture-related disciplines be taught, assuring of government’s provision of funds and grants for research.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural development, Chief Audu Ogbeh announced this at a recent stakeholders meeting with Vice Chancellors and Governing Boards of the universities in Abuja.
This action- returning the universities to their original supervisory ministry- was aimed at refocusing the institutions to fulfill their core mandates, he said.
The return "will effectively help us to reposition the three universities of agriculture as centres of excellence for the rapid development of the agriculture sector," he said.
"There is no place where the competence and capacity to drive agriculture resides outside the Universities of Agriculture. We need to achieve a hunger-free Nigeria. Henceforth, students who are not interested in becoming farmers should be made to seek admission elsewhere. We are determined to offer you the necessary support for your transformation, for research for a healthier realm of discovery and self-actualisation’’ Chief Ogbeh said.
He said the universities are expected to train Nigerian youths in agriculture, help to move agriculture forward and proffer solutions to the challenges faced in the sector especially in the area of research.
He expressed regrets at the long departure of the universities from agricultural disciplines to non-agriculture courses such as accounting, engineering and medicine etc. which were being taught in the schools and directed that only agriculture-related disciplines be taught, assuring of government’s provision of funds and grants for research.
