After their official visit to the University, federal legislators and members of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Education, have passed a vote of confidence on the way and manner the affairs of the institution was being run. The lawmakers, who recently paid a working visit to the University, as part of their oversight functions had unanimously commended FUNAAB over its detailed financial report. Speaking during the interactive meeting between the legislators with the University Management and members of staff, the Chairman of

the Committee, Honourable Aminu Suleiman, said the essence of the Committee’s oversight function was not to query, witch-hunt or carry out auditing, but to better the system.According to him, “It becomes a matter of necessity for us to put an eagle eye to stimulate public officers to run institutions properly”. Honourable Suleiman stated that it is one thing to provide what was needed for learning and teaching, adding that it is another thing for public officers to properly and judiciously spend government funds, noting that the Committee could not carry out its duties effectively by staying in their offices. “The National Assembly have been on recess for two months and we are here to gather information to submit on the forthcoming appropriation”. He appreciated the warm hospitality the University accorded them right from the Lagos Airport to Abeokuta, saying that Nigeria had not made a mistake by creating specialised institutions like FUNAAB. According to him, “I commend the unanimity of purpose particularly seeing members of the ASUU (Academic Staff Union of Universities) present. I congratulate the Vice-Chancellor that he has a team that can support him in his absence”. He also lauded Management for doing a good job in the University.

Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olusola Oyewole, had stated that the University was aiming to be a world-class institution, adding that this was possible because of its highly committed and dedicated members of staff. He presented the Mission and Vision statements of the University, saying that presently, FUNAAB had nine Colleges and a Postgraduate School. Represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Development, Professor Felix Salako, the Vice-Chancellor said that the University also has 11,624 undergraduate students, 1,101 postgraduate students, 562 Teaching as well as 1,421 Non-teaching Staff. He added that the University was community-focused with the existence of the Agricultural Media Resources and Extension Centre (AMREC) which was established in 1992. The Vice-Chancellor stressed the importance of research to the University which was responsible for the establishment of its Institute for Food Security, Environmental Resources and Agricultural Research (IFSERAR) and the Community-Based Farming Scheme (COBFAS), where the University students go to rural areas to practice farming for one year. While presenting the University’s financial report to the Chairman of the Committee, the Vice-Chancellor stated that 40 per cent of the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) was usually expended on capital projects.