The Deputy Public Affairs Officer, United States (U.S) Consulate-General, Lagos, Ms. Jennifer Foltz has lauded the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, (FUNAAB), for being an amazing institution of national impact.
She commended FUNAAB at Fulbright 75th Anniversary Lectures organised in collaboration with U.S Consulate-General, Lagos, Nigeria. The title of the Lecture is “Applying for the U.S Government Fully Funded Fulbright Programs in Nigeria: Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program”, and held at Prof. Oluwafemi Balogun Ceremonial Building, FUNAAB.
According to her, Nigeria is blessed, coming into a beautiful campus like FUNAAB with large arable lands and favorable weather conditions that are very suitable for agricultural practices. She added that agriculture is a very important sector of the economy out of various sectors with high potential of employment .
She said that “Over the past 10years the U.S Government has had a long term engagement with African youths for wide ranging efforts. The intent of the engagement is to advance U.S access to the youth population and increase their potentials to contribute to economic, political and social development all over the continent”, adding that “No nation can survive if they failed to input youth in the economic performance, wealth creation, poverty alleviation and governance”.
She thanked the University Management for collaborating with them to make the agribusiness entrepreneurship programme possible and also appreciated Fulbright Alumni for sharing their experiences to others on how to apply for the Fulbright Scholarship Programme.
In his Opening Address, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Kolawole Salako appreciated the U.S Consulate General team for choosing FUNAAB as one of the Universities that they recognised to visit during its 75th commemoration, stressing that it is a great milestone for Fulbright to celebrate 75years of goal impact through its U.S Consulate all over the world, developing, implementing and sharing a full scale of activities, events and initiatives throughout the year 2021.
The Vice Chancellor who was represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), Prof. Bolanle Akeredolu-Ale, appreciated the fact that Fulbright alumni who are beneficiaries of the Fulbright programme are impacting the knowledge gained on others, adding that he hope more of FUNAAB staff will have the opportunity to enjoy the scholarship in the nearest future.
“As a research based institution, we look forward to more partnership and opportunities with the U.S consulate”, he added.
He said “FUNAAB as a University of Agriculture, we keep making sure we train our students to become agricultural entrepreneurs and we are happy that many of our students that have graduated are already giving back to the University”.
During his Lecture, a renowned Agribusiness Entrepreneur, African Farmer Mogaji said there is a need for Nigeria to start adding value to all agricultural products to make the nation work, stressing that the country needs to move from being a consumer to producer.
He called on private sector to tap into the agribusiness in the country and not wait for the government to do everything.
African Farmer Mogaji added that there is a need for the country to redeem farmers, in order to scale up production.
