The Federal Government has announced that the first National Agricultural Land Development Authority Institute of Agribusiness and Entrepreneurship would begin operations in September this year. The Executive Secretary of NALDA, Paul Ikonne, said the institute would be established in the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria, adding that the first Institute of Agribusiness and Entrepreneurship would begin activities in Aba, Abia State, in the next two months.
Ikonne who disclosed this to journalists in Abuja over the weekend, explained that the establishment was to support the growth and development of agribusiness in Nigeria by transforming agriculture into a modern and appealing career path for the youth. According to him, the move is a combination of practical training, specialised curriculum, cutting-edge technology, and entrepreneurial education in the field of agribusiness and agronomic practices. “This will enable the country to attain food security and ensure a stable and sufficient food supply for the nation in line with President Bola Tinubu’s food security agenda,” he stated.
Ikonne further disclosed that the facility in Abia State is fully equipped with the facilities needed to build a formidable school of agribusiness.
He remarked that the institute in Aba boasts a completed 600-capacity student sports complex, two administrative blocks, libraries and laboratories, a clinic, nine solar-powered boreholes, 30 30-room hostels, and four classroom blocks for a total of 24 classrooms.
Ikonne said, “The Aba campus also holds a 50,000-capacity fishpond, poultry pens, a 5,000-capacity snail house, a fish hatchery, 50 cage grasscutter pens, crop fields, three tractors, hand-held harvesters, and nine boreholes to cater for the needs of both the farm and that of the institute.
“We came up with NALDA Institute of Agribusiness and Entrepreneurship that has the approval of Mr. President. And today, that school is taking off in September. We have students who are going to start in September. The one in Abia is fully ready and commencing the 2024/2025 academic session this September.”
He further disclosed that the facility in Ogun was 99 per cent ready and would commence academic sessions by next year. “The institute in Katsina is 89 per cent complete. So, these are projects that we initiated with the idea and knowledge that if we don’t catch them young into agriculture, agricultural production and agribusiness, in Nigeria, we will lose farmers as the current generation of farmers is ageing and retiring.
“This is why we came up with the NALDA Institute of Agribusiness and Entrepreneurship from primary to secondary to OND level,” Ikonne noted.