The Natural Resources Institute (NRI), University of Greenwich, UK a frontline partner with the University has felicitated with the University on the celebration of its 30 years of existence.
Speaking through the Director, Professor Andrew Westby in an online message released through its official Facebook page, NRI stated that the collaboration between the two institutions dates back to approximately 25 years ago.
According to Professor Westby, the long term and productive collaboration with FUNAAB started when the current Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Development, Professor Lateef Sanni carried out a substantial proportion of his Ph.D. practical work with him and other colleagues at NRI.
Professor Westby described his FUNAAB experience as impressive stating that “I was very impressed when I first visited FUNAAB in 1998, by the energy, professionalism and dedication of their staff and commitment to both academic excellence and making a difference in the lives of poor people.”
We have built strong and productive research collaboration and I hope that we can continue to grow this in the next 30 years”.
He disclosed that the collaboration between both institutions has focused on tropical root crop, Cassava which is important for both food security and income generation.
It is noteworthy that the FUNAAB/NRI collaboration has developed into a big market-place which has delved into the Cassava: Adding Value for Africa (C:AVA) project, evolving through different funding partners such as the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the European Union (EU), with the Phase II of the C:AVA Project (C:AVA II) being funded by the Bill and Melinda gates Foundation.
The Cassava project collaboration with countries like Ghana, Austria among others has also led to multiple awards such as the Times Higher Education Award for International Collaboration of the year in 2014, the Guardian Award for Research Impact in 2015 and also contributed to the Queens Anniversary Prize for Further Higher Education in 2016.