Date: 2019-11-26

The Management of the University of Ilorin says it is making efforts to key into the Federal Government's poultry revival programme.

Prof. Mikhail Buhari, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Management Services, Unilorin made this disclosure on Monday in Ilorin.

He explained that the University is at an advanced stage of discussion with a partner bank and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the matter.

"We are looking at the Multi-Billion Naira business that will be unveiled in a very short while.

"The opportunity provided by the CBN, and by extension, the Federal Government is going to be beyond our wildest dream.

"We want to go beyond just talking in the academic term, but to now show the practical and commercial aspects of what we teach our students," he said.

Buhari said that the University of Ilorin will be the commercial hub of poultry business in Kwara and some of the neighbouring states in Nigeria.

According to him, there is already a quantum production of eggs in the university farms.

"There is also massive productions of broilers taking place at the University of Ilorin Agric Research and Training Centre," he said.

Buhari added that this has prompted the Vice-Chancellor to pledged the support of the University to the Faculty as soon as possible.

Also speaking on the poultry initiatives, the Dean of Faculty of Agriculture of Unilorin, Prof. Job Atteh, said that the Faculty of Agriculture was handling the production of 5,000 broilers through a partnership arrangement with Amo Farms Sanders Nigeria Limited.

He disclosed that the Faculty had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the company to handle the growth of 5,000 broilers, while the group provided the structure, birds and feeds.

He said: "We have research units but they are not commercial. Commercialisation has not been possible because we lack the capital to do it.

"Suddenly, we were able to have an interaction with an outsider group, Amo Farms, which promised to give us the structure, birds and feeds, while our experts in the Faculty will handle how the birds grow".

Atteh, who is a Professor of Poultry production and Monogastric Nutrition, said that the agreement with the group was that the Faculty will be paid on the basis of percentage of the profit made from the sale of the birds.

He described the partnership as an eye-opener for the students of the Faculty as the massive production of broilers will serve as a good practice to enrich their understanding of poultry farming.

"This is the first time our students are seeing massive production of broilers in commercial quantity, and it will give them an insight into what their future will be after their graduation as potential poultry farmers," he said.

He solicited financial support from the University to enable the Faculty to have its own broilers processing unit, saying that it would be of great help to the Faculty, the University and the public in general.

NAN