Emefiele Tasks Varsities, Nigerian Youth on Agriculture

Sunday,April 25, 2021 / 09:10 PM / By CBN / Header Image Credit: Dailypost

...Bags FUAM Honorary Doctorate in Agripreneurship

TheGovernor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele has againchallenged tertiary institutions in Nigeria to promote research andwell-designed programmes that will boost agriculture in Nigeria.

Mr.Emefiele stated this on Friday, April 23, 2021, while delivering a lecturetitled: "Jump-Starting the Agricultural Revolution: The CBN Experience" at the23^rd-25^th joint convocation lecture of the FederalUniversity of Agriculture, Makurdi (FUAM).

Accordingto him, the university community had a significant role in fostering researchthat would enhance yields per hectare by farmers and reduce other constraintsfaced by farmers such as access to markets and storage facilities for theirproduce.

Citingthe agricultural success of Israel made possible through research intoirrigation, he said the CBN was eager to see how the university community andthe graduating students could leverage their knowledge and research to come upwith similar breakthrough solutions that would improve productivity of Nigeria'sagricultural sector.

TheGovernor, who was represented by the Director, Development Finance Department,Mr. Philip Yila Yusuf, said the CBN was ready to provide a commercial outlookto research breakthroughs on improved seeds by ensuring a guaranteed marketthrough off-take of those seeds for adoption by Nigerian farmers under theBank's Anchor Borrowers' Programme (ABP).

Henoted that the seed industry was a multi-billion dollar investment, and offeredthe potential for collaboration between the CBN and the University Community.While declaring the Bank's readiness to partner with Nigerian universities toachieve this objective, he also urged them to set up demonstration farms infarming areas, where farmers can come and obtain knowledge on the rightfarming practices to adopt in order to increase their yields and output.

Emefielealso enumerated the impact of the Bank's intervention in the agriculturalsector in Nigeria, noting that the cumulative effect of the interventions had,among other things, assisted Nigeria to achieve progressive increase inagricultural outputs along major agricultural commodities. He therefore urgedthe graduating students to leverage the knowledge they had acquired at theschool towards applying it in supporting further growth of Nigeria'sagricultural sector given its immense opportunities.

Healso charged other Nigerian youth to cue into the Bank's intervention schemessuch as the Anchor Borrowers' Programme (ABP) and the Agribusiness, Small andMedium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS) in order to make their owntowards the country's goal of addressing the challenge of rising demand forfood, in spite of the progress made in the production of staple food items.

TheCBN Governor, who decried the overreliance of the country on crude oilearnings, said the Bank, as part of its mandate to ensure price and monetarystability, had to intervene in the agricultural sector in order to diversifythe Nigerian economy as well as mitigate the impact of global shock to theeconomy arising from volatility in the price of crude oil.

Meanwhile,the Mr. Godwin Emefiele was amongfive dignitaries conferred with honorary doctorate degrees by the FederalUniversity of Agriculture, Makurdi, in recognition of their outstanding contributionsin various spheres of human endeavor.

Accordingto the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Anande Richard Kimbir, Mr.Emefiele was being conferred with an honorary Doctorate Degree (Honoris Causa)in Agripreneurship,for his leadership role at the Bank, which had continued to work to diversifyNigeria's largely based mono-economy into agriculture as well as supportsmall-holder farmers.

TheVice Chancellor noted that the effort of the CBN, ledby Emefiele, had contributed largely to the return of agricultural pyramidsacross the country, adding that Emefiele and his team at the Bank had alsohelped Nigeria to navigate her way out of two recessions in record time.

Otherdignitaries awarded honorary doctoral at the convocation ceremony were SenatorAhmed Bola Tinubu, the National Leader of the All Progressive Congress (APC);Timipre Sylva, the Minister of state for Petroleum; Vice-Admiral Murtala Nyako(rtd), an agro-industrialist; and Mallam Mele Kyari, the Group ManagingDirector of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).