FG may establish 15 additional agric varsities

Alhaji Bukar Hassan, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, has said the Federal Government is in the process of setting up 15 additional universities of agriculture in the next few years.
 
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo
Bukar who disclosed this to the governing boards of three federal universities of agriculture in Abuja in the presence of Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Audu Ogbeh and Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State in the ministry, recently said the move will assist in meeting the agricultural needs of the country’s huge population.

He said the country would have 10 to 15 universities of agriculture in the next few years because the existing three universities are inadequate to drive the government’s efforts to reposition agriculture in the country.

Ogbeh reiterated that the three universities were reverted to the agriculture ministry because it was considered the rational, just and timely action based on today’s economic realities.

He said: “The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has already set in motion a machinery to remodel the  three universities under our joint care  with a view to transforming them into centres of excellence of global reckoning.

“In this connection, we shall ensure 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.  The Federal Ministry of Education is our invaluable partner and ally.  We shall continue to work cooperatively with the Federal Ministry of Education to ensure quality assurance and the entrenchment of good governance principles in these institutions.

“We shall partner with other relevant institutions of Government, the private sector and interested external agents/parties so that collectively our modest efforts to ensure a quick turnaround in these citadels of learning will bear fruits of joy and fulfillment to us all.”



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