Yolamchi Ukaga, Aba
The Abia state government says it would sustain its partnership with the management of Micheal Okpara University of Agriculture (MOUA), Umudike, towards creating a more robust economy for the grassroots with women and youth in focus.
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu stated this while hosting a delegation of the institution, led by Prof. Maduebibisi Iwe, its vice chancellor, who called on him in Government House, Umuahia.
He explained that his administration is bent on setting up agro-based cottage industries in the 17 local government areas (LGA) of the state, especially in palm oil and palm kernel processing, cassava processing and rice milling.
According to him, 6 local government areas had been selected for the pilot scheme, which would soon take off, while equipment for the industries have arrived the state from India.
Ikpeazu affirmed that the state government was open to partnership with the University, to possibly fabricate and produce agro-equipment, such as the ones imported from India.
He observed that the greatest challenge of the Nigerian universities was how to bridge the gap between research findings and actual inventions to put them to everyday use.
The governor expressed the willingness of his administration to support the patronage of the inventions of MOUA, as the state yearns for economic development.
He congratulated the new management of the university and directed the secretary to the state government, to address the issue of Certificate of Occupancy (C of O), which the VC raised over the land allotted to the university in 1994 but which had not been properly documented by the state. He also commiserated with them on the loss of the institution’s former vice chancellor, Prof Francis Otunta.
Iwe had stated that he was at the Government House, to present himself as the 6th vice chancellor of the university, along with his management and the Presidential Visitation Panel of the school to the governor.
He appealed to the governor to continue to extend his goodwill to the school, as it is the only specialised university of its kind in the South-East and South-South regions of Nigeria.
He thanked the governor for his encouragement and support that led to his emergence, as the new vice chancellor of MOUAU and expressed the institution’s readiness to partner with the state in agriculture.
Prof. Suleman Adeyemi, chairman of the Visitation Panel, explained that the purpose of constituting the Visitation Panel, by President Muhammadu Buhari, was to review performance of the university in governance, academic standard, management of finances, staff and student relationships, among others.
He said, one issue of concern for the institution was the land issue already mentioned by the VC and appealed for the governor’s intervention as there had been encroachment on the university land by ‘unauthorised persons.’