In response to the clamour to diversify our economy from oil to other areas that have potential to generate huge revenue, the Faculty of Agriculture in the Rivers State University is now set to host the Agric Expo 2019 with the theme “Agriculture, Looking Beyond Oil”.
The Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Nkalo Hudson Ukoima gave the hint on Friday 23rd August, 2019 when he led other members of the Faculty on a Courtesy Visit to the acting Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Opuenebo Binya Owei, stating that the proposed Agric Expo which will feature sister universities in the South-South region and other stakeholders, will be an avenue for knowledge exchange, learning, skill acquisition and revenue generation.
Also speaking during the Courtesy Visit, the Chairman of the Local Organizing Committee, Dr. Foby Isaiah disclosed that the proposed Agric Expo which will hold from the 25th to 28th of September, 2019 in the University campus, would be a three (3) day event featuring symposium, workshop, lecture, exhibition and training of farmers by the various departments in the faculty.
While congratulating the acting Vice-Chancellor on her recent appointment as the first female to head the institution since its inception in 1980, the LOC Chairman prayed that God will grant her the wisdom to pilot the affairs of the University.
In her response, the acting Vice-Chancellor of the University Prof. Opuenebo Binya Owei assured the delegation of the support of the University’s Management towards the success of the Agric Expo, stating that the enormity of such symposium will not just benefit the university community, but also the state and other states in the South-South region.
Prof. Owei commended the Faculty of Agriculture and her leadership for initiating such an excellent programme which falls in line with the Federal Government’s recent policy on the ban of importation of foreign agricultural goods in the country, adding that the North and South-West are already making huge revenue from the exportation of agricultural produce.
She called on Agric lecturers and other stakeholders in the South-South region to borrow a leaf from their counterparts in the North and South-West by exploring the opportunities in the agricultural sector, stressing that with the way agricultural produce are now packaged in supermarkets, shows that agriculture is no longer the poor man’s job.
