The Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund, Sonny Echono has expressed readiness to collaborate with the Brazil’s Federal University of Vicosa, UFV and other relevant agencies to consolidate on the Agricultural Research and Innovation Fellowship for Africa, ARIFA Partnership Platform, APP.
Echono gave the assurance in the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, Fara, TETFund, and UFV’s first ARIFA Symposium held in Vicosa, Brazil.
The symposium’s themed “Pedagogic Retooling Strategy for Africa’s Agricultural Research and Innovation System: Lessons from Brazil” was aimed at strengthening alignment, partnership and coordination among ARIFA partners; UFV and TETFund.
Echono traced Nigeria’s partnership with Brazil in agriculture as a huge benefit that would help improve the research framework and retool the research infrastructure available in Nigeria.
He said the strengthened relationship with UFV, TETFund had sponsored people to Brazil to understudy its agricultural research and innovation and to gain knowledge on how to modernise Nigeria’s agriculture, especially through the deployment of science and technology.
The TETFUND Executive Secretary underscored the impact of the agricultural research and innovation of the Federal University of Vicosa on the community,
He expressed optimism that the partnership would allow Nigeria to attain some level of self-reliance in innovation and technology.
The Agricultural Research and Innovation Fellowship for Africa (ARIFA) aims to produce a new generation of fit-for-purpose workforce to re-engineer the African agri-food sector to provide the change factor for rapid agricultural transformation in the next ten years.
While the Nigerian model of the fellowship is funded by TETFund to build strategic competence to change the prevailing narrative of the waning capacity of tertiary institutions in the country. Under this partnership, TETFund supports the training of Nigerian academia to undertake tailor-made MSc programs in various fields of sciences related to agriculture at UFV.
While maintaining that it was not enough to produce many Graduate Cohort Compacts without replicating the acquired knowledge locally.
“TETFund is focusing on those graduates who will practice commercial agriculture. The attempt is to imbibe the culture of excellence and see how to replicate it at home. We are engaging Visoca and Eight universities for the transfer of knowledge. Despite all the gaps and challenges we must pull through and appreciate Visoca for assisting Africa,” he said.
Assuring them that TETFund would double effort in accelerating the process of transformation in the Nigerian agricultural sector, Echono said that the use of science and technology will be deployed while also involving Centres of Excellence across the country.
Also, speaking, the Ambassador of Nigeria in Brazil, Professor Mohammad Ahmad Makarfi, said the Symposium and the partnership would benefit the Nigerian government as it is in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s agenda on food security.
The Executive Director of FARA, Yemi Akinbamyo, advised participants to be focused, embrace a new change in Brazil and take all available take advantages.
Meanwhile, targeted participants expected during the symposium include over forty ARIFA scholars currently studying in six Brazilian universities, leaders from participating institutions in Nigeria, Brazil, and representatives from Liberia, Ghana, and DR Congo.
PIAK
