A remarkable history was made yesterday the 31st of May, 2022 in the Federal Polytechnic Bauchi, following the signing of Memoranda of Understanding between the TETFund Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Farming System and three other partners at an occasion held in the Council Chambers of Institution.
In his welcome address at the occasion, Rector of the Polytechnic, Architect Sanusi Waziri Gumau congratulated the organisations for trusting and having the foresight to partner the Centre for mutually beneficial collaborations and assured them that the Polytechnic has capable manpower, equipment and workshops to meet their demands.
The Rector said the choice of Federal Polytechnic Bauchi among its contemporaries in the Northeast subregion to host the TETFund Centre of Excellence was not by accident, adding that even the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has recently graded the Institution as being the best in research and development in subregion.
He reiterated the readiness of the Polytechnic to join hands with interested individuals and organisations whose focus is to train the youths to acquire skills for self-reliance for peace and economic development of their communities.
The organisations with whom the memoranda of understanding were signed are the Bauchi State Office of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Bauchi College of Agriculture and the Bauchi State Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Speaking at the occasion, the Director General, SDGs Bauchi state office, Dr Esther Ahmed said the partnership will go a long way in helping them to achieve goals 2, 12 and 17 which are: zero hunger, responsible consumption and production and partnerships for the goals.
In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Bauchi State Alh. Yakubu Jibrin Abdullahi pointed out that with the newly formed partnership, the state government does not have to travel long distance in search for training grounds for the youths in skills acquisition.
Also speaking, the Deputy Provost, Bauchi State College of Agriculture Dr Abdulkadir Shehu Zailani said the partnership with the Centre was apt and timely as it came at a time when the College was set to embark on a revolution in poultry production, the type of which has never been witnessed before in the entire Northeast subregion.
Giving the mandate to speak, the Country Project Manager, MEDA Way Nigeria Ms Fosen Grace said although the MoU between her organisation and Centre was still in the pipeline, she was optimistic that the would-be partnership will aid their rural intervention projects across the state and beyond.
Highlights of the occasion were the signing of the MoUs between the Rector Arc. Sanusi Waziri Gumau and the Centre Director Dr. Kolawole Richard on the one hand and the DG of SDGs Bauchi, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Agriculture Bauchi state and the Deputy Provost, Bauchi State College of Agriculture on the other.
