International Fund for Agriculture development (IFAD) and International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and AfricaRice, have entered into a three year partnership with Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti(ABUAD), for the training of 1,000 youths in various agricultural techniques.
The team of experts from the partnering agencies said the essence of the programme is to tackle youth unemployment in Nigeria and encourage youth population to perceive farming as a profitable business.
The revelation was made at a session unveiling the partnership in ABUAD on Monday during the flag off of the IFAD Project Inception Workshop tagged: ‘Youth empowerment in Agri business and sustainable agriculture held in the university.’
An IFAD Technical Specialist and leader of the team, Dr. Malu Muia Ndavi, said the agencies wanted to partner the institution , because of their deep concerns for job creation in Nigeria and Africa, having realised that youth unemployment is Africa’s major challenge.
Ndavi added that with the trends of joblessness in Africa and its attending consequences, that all hands must be on the deck to tackle the menace.
He said Africa must reexamine its modules of education and rejig its curricular to be make to be at per with 21st century economic growth.
“Let me assure you, we will listen to the modalities set by ABUAD to train 1,000 youths within two months in modern farming. We are going to ensure that every commitment we make shall be delivered and this will mark the beginning of longstanding partnership with this university.”
The university’s founder, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), who spoke about the high propensities for white collar jobs among youths, said : “The mentality of an average Nigerian was that, only white collar jobs were good.
“When white men introduced civil service, the civil servants then lived like gods, so were trained wrongly. They never emphasized that farming was a good profession.
“But somebody must correct this wrong impression and IFAD, ABUAD must be ready to do this. We must research and bring new innovations to agriculture and modernise farming.
He stated that for a university to be great, it has to be a training ground for all categories of population, especially farmers.
“Apart from that, it has to be secured and must be fully residential, because the students must be good in learning and character.
“And if they go away, how do you know their characters? If a student is taking cannabis, how do you monitor him? How do you monitor his punctuality? This is the advantage of a university like ours.
“Here in ABUAD, we learn even at night, no university does that in Nigeria. Education without functionality is nothing. Some lecturers are still using the note they used 35 years ago. Lecturers in ABUAD adopts the newest system of teaching methodology and that is why our students are doing well.”
To underscore the value he places on farming, Babalola said if he has the second chance of coming to this world that he will embrace farming as a profession.
“This is because I was born in the farm by a farmer and where I learnt everything that gave me these achievements today.
“In the olden days, people were committed to farming because nobody was coming to kill or kidnap you on the farm. There was no reason for them to go to hospital, I myself have never gone to any hospital for treatment, because we were with the nature and once you are with the nature, you will be healthy.”
The Acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. Sylvester Ojo, said the university was established with a mission to make a mark and contribute to global development.
Ojo said: “This collaboration is coming at the right time, because many of our graduates are involving in kidnapping, robbery prostitution, because they have no jobs to do. But if we can encourage these youths, job seeking will be solved.”
