Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia
President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed his frustration with the continued reliance of Nigeria on imported food and raw materials, saying that there is no reason for this state of affairs to remain given the abundant resources and knowledge available in the country.
He said that the agricultural sector, apart from helping the nation attain food security, “remains the major driver in industrial envelopment, diversification from heavy dependence on non-renewable mineral oil”.
The president stated this Saturday in his address at the 10th convocation ceremony of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), Abia State, which was read by his representative, the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Mohammed Mahmood Abubakar.
He said that the expectations of his government was for the Universities of Agriculture “to drive the rapid development of the knowledge and skills (needed) to increase local production of food and raw materials”.
“We can and should be able to feed ourselves on the rich soils and diverse ecologies that God has endowed Nigeria with. We should be determined to wisely exploit the natural resources and inheritance of our nation to feed our people and possibly export to other nations.
“Government expects that Universities of Agriculture should bravely confront the heavy dependence of our nation on imported food and raw materials with the view to reducing it to the barest minimum at the shortest possible time,” the president said.
Buhari, who is the Visitor to MOUAU, said that the agricultural policy of his administration was focused on achieving sustainable green economy. But he emphasised that the Universities of Agriculture “must play their crucial specialised roles in catalysing the development of the agricuitural sector” in order to achieve government’s stated goal.
President Buhari assured the school that efforts were on-going by his government “to put in place policies and programmes to strengthen agencies and parastatals to provide enabling environment for increased production”.
“To this end, NALDA has been re-constituted and re-establishsd to promote mechanised agriculture” he said, adding that: “Government expects that specialised Universities of Agriculture will collaborate with NALDA to ensure increased local production of food.”
However, the president acknowledged that the universities have problems “mainly of funding”, but he insisted that it should not be an excuse as “our endowments are far greater than our constraints”.
“We shall not relent, rather we shall double our efforts at creating enabling environment for our specialised Universities of Agriculture to fulfill our collective dream of self-reliance in food production,” he said.
The host and Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, in his remarks, commended MOUAU for its immense records of achievements in manpower training, research and innovation since inception.
The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Ude Oko Chukwu, observed that the abrogation of a number of courses that were hitherto part of the academic programmes of MOUAU has adversely affected the chances of Abia youths hungry for university education.
He therefore appealed to the federal government to reintroduce the scrapped courses, noting that it would create more opportunities for young persons desirous of making careers in those programmes.
Earlier in his address, the Vice-Chancellor of MOUAU, Prof. Maduebibisi Ofo Iwe, announced that 5,817 graduands were found worthy to be awarded first degree certificates of the institution with 92 graduating with first class.
He said that MOUAU has enthroned a functional sustainable excellence-driven and productive research culture, especially in agriculture science, engineering and management “to solve societal problems and priority national needs, address global realities and established needs of the university catchment area”.
But the vice-chancellor was quick to point out the inadequate infrastructure and physical facilities in the institution, saying: “It belies our collective commitment to provide quality education for our students.
“There is therfore a crying need for significant infusion of funds for the upgrade of our physical environment, specially when it is realised that this university is among those universities that started with the disadvantage of not having a take-off great from government.”
