Henceforth students seeking admission into agric universities have been advised to embrace practical agriculture or forget admission.The warning was given by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, ,Chief Audu Ogbeh at a meeting between the Minister and Chairmen of Council and Vice Chancellors of Federal Universities of Agriculture in Abuja Yesterday.According to the Minister henceforth students not interested in becoming farmers should be made to seek admission elsewhere. Each undergraduate must own a farm on campus and 60% of his/her cumulative score should be based on practical farmingHe said a system should be put in place to ensure that each student is able to support himself/herself or his/ her family from earnings at school, from their profitable engagement in agricultural enterpriseThe Minister further stated that Perhaps more compelling in terms of the need to bring you on board is the recognition that this is the right time for all all the key stakeholders and institutions in the agricultural sector to pull together under a common roof and a joint platform to achieve a hunger free Nigeria as soon as possibleYou are already aware that our population is about 193 million people according to current Projections by the National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) he saidOur food needs and demands are rising daily and we expect that this will continue in the near future,further noting that Nationwide the average age of farmers is 64 yearsWe cannot continue to expect that our aged farmers will shoulder the responsibility of providing us our food and nutritional requirements for healthy living sustainably,consequently our reliance on them is neither tenable nor sustainable for the growth of the agricultural sector.Chief Ogbeh urged that in order to kick start the institutional renewal process of these institutions under your respective leadership,therefore you as leaders of universities must be in to take innovative steps from multiple fronts. You have to change course and veer clear of non agricultural courses in your curricular.He expressed appreciation to President Muhammadu Buhari for acceding that the three federal Universities of Agriculture be returned to their natural domain, which he said is the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, He said Also speaking, Chairman House Committee on Agriculture, Hon. Mohammed Munguno said from the National Assembly since the universities migrated to the Ministry of Education without the necessary Fiat,there was there for no need for an amendment since the President had given the Directive.Responding on behalf of the Chairmen and Pro Chancellors, Pro Chancellor Micheal Okpara University of Agriculture, Prof. Anya. O Anya expressed happiness that the Minister had laid out the synergies and need for research and specialization.He said with the new push I am hoping that it would be enough for Nigerian universities to be on the cutting edge of innovations. He further expressed hope thatthis domiciliation would allow us go back to the fundamentals
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