The clause was issued last night by Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, when the Governing Councils of the universities of agriculture paid him a courtesy visit.
Ogbeh said under the new dispensation, every undergraduate must now own a farm on campus from 200 level.
The minister said graduation for the students of the universities of agriculture would be based 60 per cent on practice and 40 per cent theory.
“Every undergraduate must- and I repeat- must own a farm on campus from 200 level. We are training high level young farmers who, even before graduating, should have started earning a living. We should be training graduates who should be going straight into production, with credit support from their alma-mata, produce chicken, eggs, goats, milk, set up meat laboratories, bake bread and above all produce and sell large quantities of high quality hybrid seeds,” Ogbeh said.
He said farmers were in desperate need of these services and more, adding the institutions would make huge profits from innovative agricultural practice.
Ogbeh described the return of the three universities of agriculture to ministry as a rational, just and timely action, necessitated by the new economic realities to ensure that our institutions are better focused and more efficiently and economically managed.
“The three federal universities of agriculture,” he noted, “were established to advance the cause of agricultural transformation and modernisation in Nigeria for the development of core competencies in agricultural education, research and training, amongst others.
It is, therefore, expected that the admission policy of these universities will largely be reflective of this overarching goal. Our submission is that, in the long run, the universities will be better served if they focus on their core areas of business rather than on the subsidiaries.”
He expressed the consciousness of government on the fears and anxieties of teachers and the students already enrolled for the subsidiary social sciences programmes aside from core agricultural coursework.
Accordingly, he said: “We will not be cancelling them immediately. The task before you is to phase them out gradually.”
He, however, called on the institutions not to overlook the opportunities to earn huge revenues from agricultural research, seed and seedling development, extension work, soil mapping and even production of food on campus.
“You have huge parcels of land averaging 10,000 ha each. I enjoin you to put them to use. Raise plantations as it is done in Abeokuta and Umudike already. Scale- up the plantations over time and earn income. Be the food basket of your respective host communities.”
He disclosed that Ministry of Agriculture had already set in motion a machinery to remodel the three universities into centres of excellence of global reckoning by ensuring that the institutional structures already enshrined in the Federal Universities of Agriculture Act cap F22 CFN 2010 for their effective management are put in place without delay.
from thisdaylive
Ogbeh said under the new dispensation, every undergraduate must now own a farm on campus from 200 level.
The minister said graduation for the students of the universities of agriculture would be based 60 per cent on practice and 40 per cent theory.
“Every undergraduate must- and I repeat- must own a farm on campus from 200 level. We are training high level young farmers who, even before graduating, should have started earning a living. We should be training graduates who should be going straight into production, with credit support from their alma-mata, produce chicken, eggs, goats, milk, set up meat laboratories, bake bread and above all produce and sell large quantities of high quality hybrid seeds,” Ogbeh said.
He said farmers were in desperate need of these services and more, adding the institutions would make huge profits from innovative agricultural practice.
Ogbeh described the return of the three universities of agriculture to ministry as a rational, just and timely action, necessitated by the new economic realities to ensure that our institutions are better focused and more efficiently and economically managed.
“The three federal universities of agriculture,” he noted, “were established to advance the cause of agricultural transformation and modernisation in Nigeria for the development of core competencies in agricultural education, research and training, amongst others.
It is, therefore, expected that the admission policy of these universities will largely be reflective of this overarching goal. Our submission is that, in the long run, the universities will be better served if they focus on their core areas of business rather than on the subsidiaries.”
He expressed the consciousness of government on the fears and anxieties of teachers and the students already enrolled for the subsidiary social sciences programmes aside from core agricultural coursework.
Accordingly, he said: “We will not be cancelling them immediately. The task before you is to phase them out gradually.”
He, however, called on the institutions not to overlook the opportunities to earn huge revenues from agricultural research, seed and seedling development, extension work, soil mapping and even production of food on campus.
“You have huge parcels of land averaging 10,000 ha each. I enjoin you to put them to use. Raise plantations as it is done in Abeokuta and Umudike already. Scale- up the plantations over time and earn income. Be the food basket of your respective host communities.”
He disclosed that Ministry of Agriculture had already set in motion a machinery to remodel the three universities into centres of excellence of global reckoning by ensuring that the institutional structures already enshrined in the Federal Universities of Agriculture Act cap F22 CFN 2010 for their effective management are put in place without delay.
from thisdaylive
*Not a bad idea at all......
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ReplyDeleteHnmmm hope there are enough land space in the the school for this?
ReplyDeleteNa today! Abegi leave this people wey their own na just to talku talku and nothing.
DeleteThis made me laff even. Toooor
This one na serious matter, but is a good idea anyways.
ReplyDeleteLovely concept
ReplyDelete@ Cynthia my thoughts exactly. And when they start hope it will be sustained.
ReplyDeleteNice one!
ReplyDeleteBut I hope it wont turn to slavery? Where the student will farm ooo and some idiots will come and be harvesting?.
As with everything in Nigeria, this is lovely in theory, impossible in practice!
ReplyDelete...even if it succeeds, a new government may stop it. No continuity in government policies in this country - one of the bane of our (under)development.
Nonsense idea,Nigerians making decisions that looks good outside,when you enter inside you will meet plenty frustrations.
ReplyDeleteCommon Nafdac no that I have been working on,have scraped my head but when you read on the process on the net, it looks simple but when you start. it becomes a frustrating unending journey.Tell me how they are encouraging local manufacturers when you have to go and wake your dead great grand father as a requirement and up to 300k can still not give you the no.Nonsense policy markers
Not bad but first, admission into agricultural based courses should be for those who willingly filled them. I saw friends that were in PBST and co struggle to crossover to MCB, BCH, FST etc and because it wasn't easy, many of them were frustrated till we graduated and when I tried to encourage them, they'll say because I'm in xyz department, I could make mouth.
ReplyDeleteLet's start from there and see how easy this policy would be implemented.
Hope they will provide land for them
ReplyDeleteClueless government.
ReplyDeletein FUTA every 200l student own a small plot of land for a semester,where they farm. If they can make it a permanent stuff for Agriculture schools it will be a good way to start encouraging people to farm.(its not easy though,stressful stuff back then in school).
ReplyDeleteNa only to talk? U go dash dem d land?
ReplyDeleteWell, that's a novel idea from the minister if truly these institutions are to achieve the aims for which they were set up. We can't keep complaining of no alternatives to our dependent on oil when we can really do much from the agricultural sector given our rich soil and consumption mentality...
ReplyDelete#JustPasserBy
Gorilla Laws.
ReplyDeleteYear 1820.