Abuja grants N30b to agric varsities, mulls startup grants for student entrepreneurship
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Abuja has approved a total N47 billion to support universities of agriculture and medical schools North and South, with agric varsities getting N30 billion for mechanised farming and med schools N17 to train health care professionals.
Each university of agriculture will receive N1 billion to establish mechanised farms to boost food production, and 18 medical schools N17 billion to train medical doctors, dentists, pharmacists, nurses, and others in related fields.
The federal government has also finalised arrangements to provide startup grants to university students to support their entrepreneurship, according to Education Minister Tunji Alausa who announced this on Tuesday in Abuja at a meeting with Pro-Chancellors of federal universities.
Alausa said the allocation to universities of agriculture will play a significant role in boosting agricultural productivity to ensure food security nationwide.
“Every university that has faculty of agriculture, we now want you to set up your own mechanised farming and livestock production. And we have put aside about N30 billion for that,” he said.
“We will give you N1 billion. You will have to apply for N1 billion to set up your mechanised farming in these universities.
“This President, one of his first pillars in his priority area is food security. We want you as the people that build our future, the education system, build value of future and freedom and opportunities.
“We want you to start using your power, your position to create opportunities for attainment. We are also working with TETFund. As I said, we are focusing on STEMM.
“We have identified about N17 billion of the high impact with TETFUND. Our special high impact projects to 18 universities. This will be directly focused on medical schools to specifically train doctors, dentists, pharmacists, and nurses.
“[The] 18 universities will share that N17 billion. But we want you to focus on these four categories of courses. For doctors, pharmacists, dentists, and nurses”.
Alausa expressed concern over the trend of specialised universities venturing into academic programmes beyond their areas of expertise, citing instances of universities of agriculture offering courses in accounting, and universities of technology veering into insurance courses.
This is a deviation from their core mandates, he lamented.
In his view, over one million job opportunities exist in emerging technologies, including 300,000 jobs in cloud computing, 300,000 in machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI), as well as 250,000 in natural language processing, among others.
Alausa stressed the need for university governing councils and management to work collaboratively with mutual respect and dignity.
“Although your role is not to interfere in the day-to-day running of the universities, which is the purview of the Vice Chancellors, but you are representatives of the President and the ministry with the mandate to provide robust supervision and oversight to ensure these institutions are run properly according the law.
“In this role, the ministry will support you to create an enabling environment for the universities to function effectively and efficiently. The budgets of your institutions and the procurement processes should be approved and supervised by your councils according to extant rules guiding these processes.”
Yayale Ahmed, Committee of Pro-Chancellors of Nigerian Federal Universities (CPCNFU) Chairman and Pro-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, said the meeting provided the opportunity to reflect on their roles, share innovative ideas, and forge strategies to enhance university governance and management.
Read also:
Sacked CCT Chairman refuses to quit, tussles for job with Tinubu’s appointee
