Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has tasked Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria to respond proactively to Nigeria’s present economic challenges by paying more attention to agricultural research.
He maintained that through Institute for Agricultural Research, the university could help towards achieving far-reaching improvements in agricultural productivity, marketing and competitiveness as well as creating more employment opportunities for young Nigerians.
The governor, who made the call while receiving executives of the university’s Alumni Association in his office, noted that being a premier research center, the university’s Institute for Agricultural Research can work with other stakeholders to make agriculture the alternative revenue earner for the country.
Governor Ganduje lamented that in the past, “inconsistent agricultural policies had affected farmers negatively in the country, but with the Buhari administration’s determination to revamp the sector, noticeable improvements have began to manifest”.
Turning to the alumni association, the governor, who is also a member, promised to assist towards actualizing some of its projects within the university.
In his speech, the President of Ahmadu Bello University Alumni Association, Professor Ahmed Tijjani Mora, explained that the focus of the present national executive committee of the association is to raise membership and to reactivate and or form new chapters, as veritable organs upon which dynamic alumni would interface with the management of the university to advance teaching, learning and research.
He requested the governor to support the association to implement its projects including an on-going multi million Naira Postgraduate Hostel and the intra city shuttle bus service for students.
