By Leonard Okachie
President Bola Tinubu has urged Universities of Agriculture to form partnerships and linkages, in order to scale up agricultural research findings with a win-win target.
Tinubu, represented by Dr Deola-Tayo Lordbanjou, a Director in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, said this at the 12th Convocation Ceremony of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU) on Saturday.
He said that the nation was looking up to the universities to innovatively drive transformation of her agricultural sector to achieve food security, diversify the economy and broaden the base for industrialisation.
The president said that the establishment and progressive increase of specialised Universities of Agriculture was well thought out and properly planned to make the country self-sufficient in food production.
He expressed confidence that the country could still provide her needs for staple foods from local production, despite her large population.
“We can quickly and significantly reduce our dependence on imported food items with solid determination.
“I, therefore, encourage private organisations and public-spirited individuals to join hands with the government and our frontline institutions to achieve this assailable dream,” he said.
Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Maduebibisi Iwe, said the university was graduating 5,246 graduands belonging to 2009/2010 to 2023/2024 academic years at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
Giving further breakdown, he said that 162 obtained fist class honours, out of the 4781 first degree graduands, while 1710 passed with second class upper division.
He said that 2114 obtained second class honours lower division, 734 with third class, nine with pass degree while 42 have unclassified Veterinary qualification.
Iwe listed some of the major challenges in the institution to include : the endless staff union industrial actions in the universities, paucity of funds, bad roads amongst others.
MOUAU, formerly the Federal University of Agriculture, was established as a specialised university on Nov. 2, 1992 and began formal activities in May 1993.(NAN)
