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education
Thursday, 9 June, 2016
‘Confer national awards on farmers, researchers’ Biola Azeez-Ilorin
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HE Dean, College of Agricultural Sciences, Landmark University, Professor Gideon Agbaje, has advocated the conferment of national awards on researchers and farmers to boost agriculture. Agbaje made the call while presenting the university’s first Inau-
gural Lecture in OmuAran, Irepodun Local Government,Kwara State. He spoke on the topic ‘Agro-Innovation: Medicament for Farmers’ Predicament and National Food Security’. The don maintained that such awards would go a
long way to encourage and motivate others to invest in agriculture as a business and vocation. He said such award would spur practitioners to have positive mindset on the viability of the sector as the most promising option to fight poverty and
promote food security. Agbaje also urged government to make the purchase of locally produced raw materials mandatory, especially agriculturebased, so as to promote and encourage the citizens’ preference for local contents.
He suggested the placement of high import tax on agricultural commodities that can be produced locally. According to him, such policy will discourage the indiscriminate dumping of food products, jute sacks/ bags, pulp, and oil spill ab-
Federal Ministry of Education lauds FUTA’s infrastructure devt
Government urged to improve reading culture among school children Yinka Oladoyinbo-Lokoja GOVERNMENTS at all levels have been urged to promote reading, especially among primary school children, to improve literacy and ensure all-round development in all sectors of the economy. This was the submission of the Head, Apapa Family, Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Idowu Iluyomade, on the occasion of the ‘Excel 2016,’ held last week in Lagos. The event, organised by the church as part of efforts to contribute its quota towards the establishment of a vibrant reading culture among school children in Nigeria, featured donation of books and shelves to primary schools in local governments and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the state. The local governments that benefited from the programmed included Apapa, Ifako Ijaiye, Surulere, Lagos Island, Ikeja, Kosofe, Epe, Ikorodu, Ibeju Lekki, Eti Osa and Iru-Victoria Island. Pastor Iluyomade disclosed that the church had spent about N15 million so far on the project, adding that “the goal is to bridge the gap between public and private schools. The Lagos State government has tried, especially in terms of education, but more needs to be done.” Speaking on why the church decided to give books to schools, Iluyomade stated that “the project started last year with the goal of equipping 500 schools with 200 books each.
sorbent among others. The Vice Chancellor, Professor Aize Obayan, in her remark disclosed that the institution had recently achieved a major breakthrough in the production of high variety of tomatos as well as in its brown rice from Fadama project.
Vice Chancellor, Professor Adebiyi Daramola (second left); Director, Professor Sola Agbede (first left) and Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Education, Dr Folasade Yemi Esan, at the Julius Okojie Central Laboratory of FUTA.
Representatives of local governments, school children and church officials, during the book presentation of ‘Excel 2016,’ an initiative of the Apapa Family of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), held in Lagos State, recently.
UK firm partners Wesley University on skills development Hakeem Gbadamosi-Akure AS part of efforts to reduce mass youth unemployment, a United Kingdom firm, ‘Ahead Strategies,’ London, has introduced acquisition of basic skills for paid employment and self-employment to tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Speaking on the importance of the programme during a two-day seminar organised for the final year students of the Wesley University of Technology, Ondo (WUSTO), Ondo State, tagged ‘Graduate Employability’, the lead consultant of the foreign firm, Mr. Benjamin Taiwo,
said the seminar became imperative in order to expose the students to how to sustain their jobs after securing employment in the labour market. “Seven out of 10 employers say that they employed the wrong people and would have to fire them within the first six months of being at work. More than 50 per cent of the businesses start folding up within the first three to five years,” he disclosed. He explained that the training was aimed at helping the students to stand out in the job market and help them not only to get a job but also to
sustain the jobs that they get through certain techniques. “We as a country concentrate too much on paper certificates. Employers are sick and tired of very fantastic results, but zero industry experience. What we are teaching will ensure that paper certificates they have will get them the job and help them to keep the job. He said the organisation can only provide skills and training for the students to attract good investors that will partner with them or invest, but could not afford to give money to the youth to start their own business.
He said, “We are able to link people that will have the skill to keep a business and grow it with the right investors locally and across the world, through the training that will make them attract the right employers and to also become the right employers.” Mr Taiwo disclosed that the central data of the organisation enables them to monitor the youth and provide necessary aids, mentorship, feedback mechanism; and most importantly, “allows employers to go into our website to look for candidates and match candidates with employers.”
THE Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Dr FolasadeYemi Esan, has commended the rapid infrastructure development at the Federal University of Technology, Akure. MrsYemi Esan gave the commendation while on a working visit and project assessment tour of STEP-B projects at the university. She praised the management for making judicious use of funds allocated to the institution, adding that the ministry is not only concerned about structures, but also the quality of the products of tertiary institutions. “This is my first visit to FUTA and I am impressed with what I have seen. The environment is calm and serene, and the students are well behaved. The university is on the right track of being a technological hub,” she said. While appraising ongoing projects, Mrs Esan commended the university’s management on the architectural design and quality of the 1,000-seater theater and blocks of classroom project. At the Julius Okojie Central Research Laboratory, she expressed satisfaction with the state-of-the-art equipment and asked the management to market the facilities as they were an asset to the university, industries and other research institutes. She also visited the Green House, hatchery, Teaching and Research Farm and other ongoing STEP-B projects in the university and asked management to liaise with her office in the event of any challenges that may arise in the course of completion of the projects.