A professor of Food Science and Technology at the Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University (formerly University of Agriculture Makurdi (UAM), Joseph Oneh Abu, has charged the federal government to improve education funding, especially university funding, in addition to “exercising more supervision by engaging competent and committed Governing Council members.”
Prof. Abu gave the charge recently while delivering the university’s 47th Inaugural Lecture at the institution’s main auditorium.
The don, who’s the president of the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology, also urged the government to “inaugurate and fund the Nigerian Council of Food Science and Technology (NiCFoST) signed into law since October 2019, to enable proper regulation of the practice and profession of Food Science and Technology.”
He also charged the Benue state government to dualise the main road linking the university to the Makurdi –Lafia expressway and “liaise with the Senate of the Benue State University to create a Department of Food Science and Technology to enhance the functioning of the World Bank Centre of Food Technology Research (CEFTER) for better impact.”
The erudite professor further urged the state government to institute annual awards for “best graduating FST students backed up by immediate employment,” amongst others.
Prof. Abu, turning to his university, specifically appealed to the management to “adequately equip and create a centre to run the pilot plant and post-graduate laboratories as well as the biscuit and confectionery factory to function as is the case in Makerere University, Uganda, and elsewhere.”
He said: “Prioritise road network, landscaping and campus beautification; complete abandoned projects such as the auditorium at College of Food Technology & Human Ecology (CFTHE), sports facilities, burnt down structures around staff quarters; consistently enforce employment of first-class graduates in their respective departments; deploy credible and steady ICT in all spheres of university administration, including fees, transcripts, registration, examination computation and library services; institute a JOSTUM annual awards ceremony to recognise and celebrate excellence as well as dedicated service, and provide some funds as publication subsidies for academic publications in credible, approved peer-reviewed journals for academics in partnership with development partners such as TETFund.”
He noted that from research, “plant-based foods remain the most affordable and healthy option for the majority of the people living in the developing regions of the globe.”
Prof. Abu urged stakeholders to promote the utilisation of plant-based foods through informed processing in order to “minimise or eliminate anti-nutrients, enhance nutrition and promote health.”
