Nigerian University Secures N500 Million Facility For Oil Palm Project

Nigerian University, the Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State, has bagged an N500 million Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) facility to restore and made expansion in its existing oil palm plantation.

Brand News Day Nigeria gathers that the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Lawrence Ezemonye, made this disclosure on Friday in Okada, Edo State, in his address at the varsity 19th convocation ceremony.

Mr Ezemonye said the project, secured under the CBN’s diversification programme, was part of the strategic plan of the university.

“The project also includes the procurement and installation of a semi-industrial mill.

“Besides producing palm oil and other allied products, the project is expected to enhance teaching and research in Agriculture, leveraging on the largely agrarian Okada community,” he said.

Mr Ezemonye recounted a series of achievements recorded by the university under his watch, one of which he said was the full accreditation of all the 49 programmes run by the institution.

He said that plans were ongoing to introduce new programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

The vice-chancellor said the programmes included Cyber Security, Mechatronics Engineering, Agricultural Engineering, Geology, Geophysics, Software Engineering and Industrial Chemistry.

Nigerian University Secures N500 Million Facility For Oil Palm Project

“If approved, it will bring the total programmes in the university to 56.

“The postgraduate programmes are in Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Petroleum Engineering and Geography, Regional Planning and Sociology respectively.

“All the programmes are awaiting resource verification by the National Universities Commission to take off for the next academic session,” he said.

He said the institution would soon begin the Open and Distance Learning programmes in line with the University’s Strategic Plan and Academic Brief.

He said the university remained resolute in extending opportunities to students willing to benefit from its rich and qualitative academic programmes.

“As a first step, the university recently hosted a week-long Open and Distance Learning Skills Development Workshop organised by the Regional Training and Research Institute for Distance and Open Learning (RETRIDOL) at the National Open University of Nigeria in collaboration with the Commonwealth of Learning based in Canada.

“This is a very significant landmark in our effort to accommodate students who are unable to join the regular programmes due to wanting of time or convenience.

“As I speak, all machinery (sic) have been put in place to kick start the ODL Programme at the university.

“This is also in sync with best practices in digital education,” Mr Ezemonye said.

He also said that the institution would soon establish an Executive Business School in partnership with the Rosula Foundation.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the convocation ceremonies ended on Saturday with the conferment of honorary doctoral degrees on Adebisi Akande, former governor of Osun.

The university conferred honorary degrees on Jeremiah Useni, a retired lieutenant general, and Abubakar Isa for their contributions to society.

NAN also reported that the privately-owned university turned out 475 graduands for its undergraduate programmes including 16 First Class Honours and 123 postgraduates in the 2020/2021 session.