Last Updated on December 1, 2025 by Olasunkanmi Olajide
By Olasunkanmi Olajide & Femi Dansu
The Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) has reaffirmed its standing as a national leader in youth development, innovation, and industry-responsive education as it successfully concluded Day Two of its maiden Skill-Driven Career Fair in partnership with the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and the Skills Development for Youth Employment (SKYE II) Programme, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and implemented in Nigeria by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ)
Day Two and Closing Ceremony of the Career Fair, held on November 26, 2025, at the Prof. Oluwafemi Balogun Ceremonial Building, continued to equip final-year students with the necessary skills, industry exposure, and career insights required to thrive beyond graduation.
Representing the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) and Chairman, Benchmarking and Employability Committee, Prof. Olukayode Akinyemi, the Dean, College of Agricultural Management and Rural Development (COLAMRUD), Prof. Emmanuel Fakoya, encouraged students to maximise the opportunity, describing the Career Fair as a timely platform for enhancing their professional development. He commended the organisers and wished participants fruitful engagements.
Delivering the first keynote address, the General Manager of WAFROEX/GOLDSWARM Ltd, Mr. Abdulrahman Shomala, an alumnus of FUNAAB, spoke on the distinction between a job and a career. Drawing from his personal experiences spanning banking, insurance, and e-commerce, he emphasised that modern career success is driven by curiosity, innovation, and problem-solving rather than credentials alone. He urged students to invest deeply in self-development, explore diverse opportunities, and build purpose-driven careers. Citing The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb, he highlighted the evolving, unpredictable nature of life and encouraged students to think beyond conventional career pathways.
Also speaking, Mr. Godwin Obhiyeghobu, Vocational Training and Labour Market Advisor at GIZ, representing the Component Manager of GIZ – SKYE II, Ms. Svjetlana Djokic, explained that the SKYE II Programme supports partners like FUNAAB in enhancing skills development for youth employability and employment. He encouraged students to engage with industry representatives present, build a network, and develop transferable skills for their career path, understand labour-market realities, and pay attention to global drivers such as technological advancements, demographic shifts, economic trends, and the green transition. He emphasised the importance of educational institutions strengthening cooperation with the private sector and employment service agencies (job centres) to improve graduate employability and labour market participation, contributing to sustainable economic development.
In his presentation, Mr. Olabode Orolu, Managing Director/CEO, Nourished Choice Agro-Allied Foods, described the theme of the Career as a call to narrow the gap between academic knowledge and industry-ready skills. Drawing on over 15 years of experience across technology and agribusiness sectors, he noted that employers now seek problem solvers, innovators, and adaptable young professionals.
In his remarks, Mr. Dimeji Kayode of Assetrise Limited applauded FUNAAB for its leadership role. He noted that the company has successfully merged agriculture and real estate, delivering over three million tubers of yams in four years and managing more than 8,000 hectares of oil palm plantations across four states. He revealed ongoing collaborations with FUNAAB through the Smart Agropreneurship Project (SAP), which has benefited 20 final-year students and three graduates. Assetrise, he added, is seeking to employ 10–20 FUNAAB graduates to support its operations.
The Founder, Rexayo Concepts, Mr. Alli Ayobami, facilitated a session on the “CV Clinic Diet,” where he emphasised the need for students to tailor their CVs for remote job opportunities. He stressed the importance of demonstrating independence, communication competence, and relevant digital skills.
Meanwhile, in the students’ prototype pitching session, WAFROEX sponsored the first-place prize of ₦200,000 won by Adeboye Oluwagbemiga Kolawole of the Department of Agricultural and Bio-Resources Engineering; Dodopho (Glo) supported the second-place prize of ₦100,000 won by Iyanuoluwa Afolabi of the Department of Soil Science and Land Management; while Nourished Foods funded the third-place prize of ₦80,000 won by Opeifa Sumayya Morenikeji of the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics.
The event was attended by over 1,000 students and 20 industries, including the Alternate Chairperson, Employability and Benchmarking Committee and Dean, College of Biosciences (COLBIOS), Prof. Iyabode Kehinde, and her team, as well as industry partners like Alhaji Ibrahim Aliyu, TVET Advisor/State Coordinator, GIZ-SKYE, among others.
