University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) and the ABX Agro-Allied Services Limited, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding, as a major boost towards export of Nigeria’s agricultural produce.
Under the MoU, signed on Monday, October 26, 2020, UNN will support the ABX and the Federal Government achieve the terms of reference of the Committee that works on the development of agriculture as an alternative to oil in revenue generation and foreign exchange earnings as Federal government policy.
Recall that the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI), recently inaugurated a 28-member Nigeria Agro Set-Up Committee with a mandate to reinvigorate broad national agricultural activities across the country.
With the Federal Government’s intent on diversifying the economy away from oil, there has been renewed interest in the agricultural sector as a critical sector to lead the charge and target $250B (two hundred and fifty billion US dollars) in export income for Nigeria by 2040.
To this end, duo – UNN and ABX – will work vigorously to assist the country and farmers obtain International Standard Organization (ISO) and GAP (Good Agricultural Practice) products certifications respectively for different agro-allied crops and products and Partner with other stakeholders to improve the competence and capacity of rural farmers and agro-allied SMES.
The Vice Chancellor of the premier University in Nigeria, Prof. Charles Igwe, said that the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, has as one of its principal objectives to provide singularly or in collaboration with other institutions of higher learning and other public or private organizations facilities for teaching and research in various disciplines including agriculture and participate in the discovery and transmission of knowledge.
Prof Igwe stated the preparedness of Institution to provide facilities such as land, buildings, electricity and training equipments like ICT gadgets etc; and the pooling of intellectual content and resource persons for capacity building, for the success of the Nigeria agro-export programme.
On his part, Chief Executive Officer of ABX Agro-Allied Services Limited, Captain John T Okakpu, described the partnership a giant step towards facilitating an agro-export friendly system for the country and entrench international acceptance standards. Capt John said, now there’s a big hope for the youths of Nigeria.
“As you are aware, we are pursuing the mandate of formulating and implementing policies and programmes to attract investment, boost industrialization, increase trade and exports and develop enterprise. So, with UNN on board, things will get a lot easier for us.
“We are resolute to source for funds to support this project; facilitate ISO and GAP certifications of products for export and provide technical experts for capacity building exercises/sessions”, Captain Okakpu said.
The agreement shall be tenable for 5 years in the first instance and may be renewable thereafter as long as the objectives and goals are achieved and the university and the partner, ABX Ltd, mutually benefits from the patriotic and national goal of sustainable agricultural development of non-oil economy for Nigeria.