Removal Of Federal Colleges Of Agriculture  From TETFUND Stalls Development – Provost

By Ayodele Oni

After about 70 years of its establishment, the Federal College of Agriculture, Akure, (FECA) Ondo state, is still battling with threats from land owners and grabbers.

To this end,  the Provost of the College, Dr. Akinyemi Fadiyimu, has cried out over continuous attacks and harassment of students and staff of the institution by those still laying claim to ownership of land on which the college is located.

Apart from physical attacks, Dr. Fadiyimu said the people are in court and that three quarters of the institution’s land would be gone if the court ruled in their favour.

According to him, five different litigations are currently filed by aggrieved individuals that are laying claim to ownership of college’s land.

The Provost, who disclosed this to leadership of media correspondents in Akure during a visit, stated that the security threat faced by students due to attacks by land grabbers was causing distraction for the institution.

Besides attack by land grabbers, Dr. Fadiyimu said removal of Colleges of Agriculture from benefitting from Tertiary Education Fund (TETFUND) caused ‘serious infrastructural deficit in the institution.’

“Our greatest threat here is the issue of land grabbing. Land grabbers want to forcefully encroach on our land. We are facing five litigations from people who are trying to lay claim to this college. On several fronts, different persons are laying claim to our land. The issues are so serious.

“If per chance we should loose those cases, the land available to this college will be reduced by three quarter. Only one quarter will be left for us to operate.

“They come in all the time to attack our staff and students. It is a lot of security risk for staff and students.

“The location of the college is attractive to land speculators. They should leave us alone to develop and be able to serve the society.”

He also revealed that the College has not been receiving the needed patronage from both the state or the federal government.

“There are a lot of developmental project lacking in the institution. There is dearth of infrastructure. The federal government has been shortchanging us since 2010.

“We (college of Agriculture) were removed from benefitting from TETFUND. In 2010 all Colleges of Agriculture were exempted but state universities are benefiting from it. State governments are not establishing College of Agriculture because they will not have access to TETFUND.

“We are talking about food security, agricultural development. Our graduate are able to ensure we achieve technological advancement. We are critical stakeholders in agricultural development in this country.”