The House of Representatives, during its plenary session of Wednesday, December 11, 2024, passed a Bill for an Act to amend the Federal University of Agriculture (Establishment) Act to Establish The Federal University of Agriculture, Forestry and Technology, Igboora, Oyo State (HB1172), sponsored by the member representing Ibarapa Central and Ibarapa North Federal Constituency, Hon. (Dr.) Anthony Adebayo Adepoju.
The Bill, which was first read on the floor of the House of Representatives on April 28, 2024, seeks to upgrade the Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology, Igboora, to the Federal University of Agriculture, Forestry and Technology, Igboora, Oyo State.
In his lead debate on Wednesday, Hon. Adepoju said, “With the sudden realisation by the Nigerian nation on the need for food sufficiency for our teeming population, it therefore becomes imperative that all hands must be on deck, including government deliberate policies towards the fulfilment of the goal of food for all in the shortest possible time.
“Mr. Speaker and honourable colleagues, it is in the light of the above that I present the above Bill for your attentive, urgent consideration and gracious passage. The first sets of the Federal Universities of Agriculture were established in Nigeria on 1st January 1988 by the Military Government of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in order to be the bastion of research into food production and other agricultural breakthroughs in the interest of the generality of the people of our country,” he noted.
The brief of argument also proposed that the Federal University of Agriculture, Forestry and Technology, Igbo-ora, Oyo State, is domiciled in a natural setting being that Igbo-ora is an agrarian metropolis with vast and expansive land resources. According to the Bill, the University will have a deliberate component module for the production of graduates for Agriculture and its large array of sub-disciplines such as Agricultural Engineering, Animal Science, Agronomy, Forestry, etc, the overall vision being one of producing graduates with hands on skills that they could deploy for self-employment, which is also in tandem with the overall macroeconomic pathway of the current Administration.
The lawmaker also expressed in the brief of argument that there is currently existing, an Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology, Igbo-ora, with large and expansive land space to accommodate a University. “This, we believe, will be an economy of scale in favour of our proposal as we know a collaboration between the state government and the federal government will spell a win-win situation in the interest of our people. To cap it all, Mr. Speaker, the establishment of this proposed University will make it the first of such University of Agriculture in the whole of Oyo State of Nigeria.
The lead motion was subsequently seconded by Hon. Hussain Hassan Shehu, representing Nasarawa Federal Constituency, and the Bill was passed by the House for the second reading and referred to Committee on Agricultural Colleges and institutions for further legislative action.
