By Godspower Eguasa and Nosakhar
The Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, has reiterated his commitment towards the development of a world-class institution in the agricultural sector of the state, assuring prospective graduates of the institution automatic employment by the State.
Obaseki gave the assurance while inspecting the ongoing construction work at the college on Thursday, December 29, 2022, at Iguoriakhi, Ovia South West Local Government Area of Edo State.
Obaseki said: “We want to create a real world-class institution that trains and prepares people to have careers in the Agric industry. If we say agriculture is as important to us as a nation, then we must have institutions that prepare and train very capable and competent people, particularly middle-level manpower for the agric industry.
“We don’t see any such institution today in the country, and our goal is to make sure that every student who has the opportunity and privilege of going through this institution automatically gets employed even before they finish their studies here”.
Obaseki, while harping on the enormous job opportunities embedded in the project for Edo residents and Nigerians at large, noted that plans are currently underway, as the State will leverage Public-Private Partnership arrangements with reputable private-sector players to ensure the successful actualization of the goal.
He said: “This is going to be a classic collaboration between government and the private sector. The governing council of this school is made up of 60 percent people who are already in the Agric business.
“I expect that people like Okomu, Presco, Leventis
“They will help us define the curriculum that should be taught, and this school is not just going to be another certificate-awarding institution. I want it to be a job-creating institution, that’s going to be the unique difference.”
The Governor who noted that the State is currently collaborating with other world-class institutions in designing academic programs for the institution to ensure quality training of Agric extension workers assured that the accreditation of the institution will not be a problem as the State is finalizing all arrangements to gain accreditation.
He said: “We are in conversations with some institutions in America, and one of them is likely to be working with us to design programs to train Agric extension officers or workers, and that conversation started about three years ago; we are still on it, and we are very optimistic that it will happen.
“In terms of accreditation, we’ve done extensive work. Accreditation will not be an issue. Much of it has been sorted out. We just need to finish the physical facilities like we did with the School of Nursing Sciences”.
Some of the facilities in the institution are an Administrative Block, blocks of classrooms, an Auditorium complex, Library (including an E-Library), Staff Quarters, Hostels, Health Centre, Teaching and Research farms, among others.
