UFASS Takes Off Smoothly
…as UNAAB trains Liberian, Gambian scholars
A cross-section of UFASS scholars from The Gambia and Liberia (in T-Shirts and face caps), being addressed by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Development, Prof. Segun Lagoke with the Registrar, Mr. Adeboye (first left), the representative of the Guest Speaker, Mr Rotimi Akinyele, DVC (Academics), Prof. Chryss Onwuka (first right) and Director CENIP, Dr. Kayode Akinyemi .
The University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, today (Monday), officially flagged-off its UNAAB Foreign African Scholarship Scheme (UFASS).
The programme was recently endorsed by both Senate and the Governing Council, as part of the internationalization efforts of the University.
The scheme made its debut with an Orientation Programme at the University’s Senate Chamber, with its first set of UFASS scholars, drawn from Liberia and The Gambia.
In his Welcome Address, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Oluwafemi Olaiya Balogun, represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Development), Professor ‘Segun Lagoke, said UFASS was one of the many scholarship opportunities provided by UNAAB to meet the different needs of various African students.
According to him, the scheme would teach skills acquisition in varivarious entrepreneurial vocations as well as undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in various fields, such as Animal Health, Animal Production Techniques, Aquaculture and Fisheries Management.
Other areas of study under the scheme include Poultry Management, Horticulture and Water Resources Management, he stated.
The Vice-Chancellor emphasized that the scholars were expected to return to their home countries after the successful completion of the programmes, to apply the newly acquired skills for poverty reduction and sustainable development of their individual countries.
Professor Balogun stressed that the orientation programme was organized to enable the beneficiaries from Liberia and The Gambia, to facilitate their stay and fully explore available opportunities of the scheme.
Professor Balogun admonished the scholars to consider themselves privileged to be beneficiaries of the University’s initiative and therefore charged them to make judicious use of the opportunity by working assiduously to complete their progrommes, in record time.
In her Lecture titled, “Impact of Scholarship on Nation Building”, the Director, Tertiary Education of the Federal Ministry of Education, Dr. (Mrs.) Jamila Shu’ara, called on the private sector, philanthropists, religious organizations and corporate bodies, to complement government efforts by granting scholarships to indigent and deserving students.
Dr. Shu’ara, who was represented by Mr. Rotimi Williams Akinyele, commended UNAAB for taking the bull by the horn, through UFASS, calling other tertiary institutions in the country and Africa at large to emulate the institution.
Also in her Lecture, the representative of the Ogun State Comptroller of Nigeria Immigration Service, Mrs. O. D. Mofikoya said Nigerian borders are opened to students in Africa and all over the world provided, they go through the appropriate process.
She warned that the Nigeria Immigration Service would not shy from dealing decisively with any immigrant, including students, who entered the country through illegal means.
Also present at the Orientation Programme were the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Prof. Chryss Onwuka; the Acting Registrar, Mr. Adeleke Adeboye; Acting Bursar, Mr. Moses Ilesanmi; Director, CENIP, Dr. Kayode Akinyemi, Deans, Directors, HODs and student representatives of UNAAB.
