Dr Adekoya Owosibo is the Provost, Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology, Ibadan. He speaks with ABIODUN AWOLAJA on the mandate of the college and sundry issues. Excerpts:
CONGRATULATIONS on today’s convocation. It seems that the graduands are from different years. Why is this so?
That is so because prior to now, we had fewer students graduating. We waited to have like 1,000 students before hosting a befitting convocation. Now we have about 500 students graduating every year on the average. In the last two years, we have over 1,000 already. And we have even more on an annual basis now. However, from henceforth, under this administration, it will be an annual event.
For how long has this college been in existence?
This college was established on April 1, 1964. So, we are 57 this year.
Naturally, people wonder what contributions the colleges of agriculture are making to solve the food problem considering the monumental hunger in the land. What contributions are you making to tackle mounting hunger in the nation?
Our mandate is to provide middle level manpower in the area of animal agriculture and related sciences. We produce graduates that go into the field to practice agriculture, working in public and private agencies. We have graduates in organizations like Zartech, Obasanjo Farms and suchlike places. The problem of hunger in Nigeria is very pathetic considering our numerous resources. However, population explosion is one of our major problems. Another is government policy. Policy summersaults lead to failed investments, thus discouraging potential investors. If there is consistency in government policy, like the problem with the border closure, people will be encouraged to put money into the sector. However, these investments will not mature immediately.
If, while waiting for the maturation of the investment, the government suddenly reverses itself and opens the borders, for example, the investment capital will be lost. Let us take DOCs (day old chicks) for an example.If somebody is investing in DOCs, he must have built a farm, raised chickens for about six months, which we call parent stock and several other related activities. We can imagine the volume of investment. If within three years the government goes ahead to open up the borders for the importation of DOCs into Nigeria, it is going to be a colossal loss. Many potential investors will become jittery because of the inconsistency in policy making. Thankfully, in recent times we have seen some consistency in government policy making in that regard.
If they want to talk about relaxing these policies, it will be through advocacy. For example, last year, we had issues with maize, which is a major input in poultry feeds.There is a competition between human beings and animals on the issue of maize. We have not been able to find a good replacement in terms of energy sources for poultry especially. Now, we have a lot of drought in the southern part of Nigeria that distorted our maize production plans but meanwhile, there was a lot of flooding in the North. This led to a shortage in the output of maize in the country. This made the cost of maize to skyrocket. The maize content in feeds is 50 per cent. With the scarcity, the cost of maize skyrocketed, making the feed, the output, to be very expensive. How much were we buying eggs previously? Maybe N400-N700. But today, a crate of eggs is N1,400 on the average at the farm gate. Meanwhile, farmers are still lamenting their losses.
Insecurity is also a major issue. In some areas, people have planted crops but they cannot go back to harvest them. Those who are interested in farming are therefore discouraged. And then, the farmers/herders crisis is also another major challenge, but that is being resolved now.
What are your plans for the College under your administration?
By the grace of God, I am just a little over a year in office but God has granted us some grace to make progress. The gate house and the dual carriage leading into the College is one of such. The entrance is now attractive such that potential students and even current ones are proud to point to this place as their school.
We have also had accreditation for about four more courses from the NBTE which is the federal body officially mandated to accredite our courses.
Although funding remains a major issue, we are in league with other schools to get a look in for funding, especially in terms of training for our lecturers and renovation of most of our equipment which have become obsolete over time. We are also planning a befitting administration block because our target is to make this school compete globally with Polytechnics and other schools of its type anywhere. We are collaborating with international bodies on training and doing our bit on advocacy especially in some public and private secondary schools which we have adopted. We hope to do more.
and then