Rep. of the Police Commissioner, the PPRO, Mr. Olumuyiwa Adejobi addressing the new students while from Left are the Director, Planning & Statistics, Min. of Agric., Mr. Oyesanwe Adekunle; rep. of the Comm. for Agric., the Perm. Sec., Min. of Agric., Engr. Lanre Bisiriyu; rep. of the VC, the DVC (D), Prof. Felix Salako; the Dean (COLAMRUD), Prof. Segun Apantaku and the Dean, Student Affairs, Prof. Olufemi Onifade.
The Ogun State Police Commissioner, Mr. Ikemefuna Okoye has passed a Vote of Confidence on the students of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), saying “They are the only students in Ogun State that doesn’t give us problem”.
Mr. Okoye made this known, penultimate Wednesday during the National Association of Agricultural Students (NAAS) Orientation Programme, held at the Julius Amioba Okojie Lecture Theatre 3.
Represented by the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Olumuyiwa Adejobi, the CP said FUNAAB has a very good name and credibility.
According to him, “FUNAAB is the only University in Ogun State and even Southwest where Cultism is at the lowest ebb”.
“I love to be in the midst of FUNAABites as it is the only school in Ogun state that is not giving us problems as per security”, he noted.
He, therefore, called on other leadership of Higher Institutions in the State to visit FUNAAB and emulate her security system.
Mr. Okoye stated that the greatest challenge in our society is cultism, adding that an idle cultist will inadvertently turn into a criminal.
He, however, warned new students against polluting FUNAAB by joining the Cult groups, adding that it is an unlawful society that is destructive.
The top cop did not mince words as he disparaged the activities of some unscrupulous students, who engage in internet fraud, popularly known as ‘Yahoo Yahoo’, adding that it is a criminal offence punishable by law.
Meanwhile, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olusola Bandele Oyewole has declared that Agriculture still remains the flagship of the University.
The Vice-Chancellor, who was represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Development, Professor Felix Salako encouraged the students to be good citizens of the country and good ambassadors of the University. In her address, titled, Agriculture: the Stronghold of an Economy, the Honourable Commissioner for Agriculture, Mrs. Ronke Shokefun stated that in most developing countries, agriculture is both the main traditional pursuit and the key to sustained growth of the modern economy.
Represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Engr. Lanre Bisiriyu, she said, the growth of any economy goes hand in hand with agricultural progress, adding that it remains the most important key to successful industrialization.
The Honourable Commissioner said Agriculture used to be the mainstay of the economy, as it recorded more than 60% of the country’s foreign exchange earnings, adding that the discovery of oil in commercial quantities in the early 1970s led to the total neglect of the sector.
According to her, “the neglect of the agricultural sector, which is the highest employer of labour particularly in the rural segment of the nation began to create instability in labour market and pressure on urban population and its infrastructure”.
She described some of the roles of agriculture as meeting the basic necessities of human life which are food, shelter and clothing.
Mrs. Sokefun added that agriculture provides employment opportunities, stressing that it has several sub-sectors such as crop, livestock, forestry, fisheries, processing and marketing of agricultural products.
In a related development, the Director, Institute of Food Security, Environmental Resources and Agricultural Research (IFSERAR), Professor Segun Osinowo charged the new students to consider themselves extremely lucky to be studying Agriculture, adding that “I have seen the past, the present and the future; the future belongs to you”.
According to him, “You don’t need to know many things, just pick a crop and be an expert in it”.
He decried the incessant waste of foreign exchange in the country, saying “when N80 is sent back to America on each N100 bread we buy as we don’t produce the wheat”.
“Are you not worried that imported chickens are less expensive to the ones we buy locally”?
“60 years ago, I was a kid and I experienced the best in agriculture, 60 years from now, agriculture is in your hands”, he added.
Earlier in his Welcome Address, the President of NAAS, FUNAAB Chapter, Mr. Okunlola Oladimeji expressed gratitude to the invited guests, saying that inspite of their tight schedules they were able to grace the programme.