Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, on Thursday, led other top government officials to inspect the ongoing rebuilding of the Edo State College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Iguoriakhi in Ovia North-East Local Government Area, expressing satisfaction with the pace and quality of work.
The governor, who reaffirmed the government’s commitment to repositioning the institution to develop the needed manpower to drive the state’s robust agriculture-based economy, said the school will begin operation by the middle of next year.
According to him, “I promised that we were going to build a world-class college of agriculture in Edo. I said we will have a College of Agriculture with three campuses, with the headquarters in Iguoriakhi and the other two campuses in Uromi and Agenebode. The designs for those ones have been completed.
“This school will begin operation sometime in the middle of next year. I am quite impressed with the quality and speed of work. As you can see, work is in progress.”
“In a couple of weeks, we will be roofing some of the buildings and finalization of the interiors will be on. We expect to have eight departments; the principal staff that will run the school are in place and there is a lot of work being done in terms of accreditations,” he added.
Noting that the government is prioritizing agriculture to diversify the state’s economy, Obaseki stated, “Even when you don’t have money, the little you have will be channeled, while priority will be given to some key projects, and agriculture is one of them. We have to diversify our economy; it is clear that in the next few years, we will not have the kind of resources that we are having now from crude oil.”
“There is no relationship between the old school and this one; that old one has been closed down and the law setting it up has been repealed,” the governor noted.
