Rivers State Deputy Governor, Engr. Tele Ikuru, has called for a paradigm shift in the way the agricultural sector is managed.

Engr. Ikuru made this call today while delivering the 2nd Professor Uche Godwin Nzuko Anazodo Memorial Lecture (PUGNAML) with the theme: “The Politics of Agricultural Mechanization and National Food Security”, organized by the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology (CEET), Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State held at the Senator Pius Anyim Auditorium of the university.

He said that “government needs to move away from running the agricultural sector as government projects to running agriculture as business,” disclosing that “this is the contextual framework upon which the current political leadership under the visionary Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, CON, Executive Governor of Rivers State has developed an agricultural development model that places mechanization as well as other investments in the hands of stakeholders including the private sector and individual farmers. This model operates the principle of Agribusiness and not agricultural project development”.

He further stated that “agricultural engineers and researchers need to look more inwardly into finding the right technologies that match the needs of local farmers,” pointing out that “big enterprises and individuals at the corridors of power have to separate selfish interest and aim for national development”.

Delivering his Keynote Address, the keynote speaker and Chairman, O.T. Otis Engineering, Abuja, Engr. Otis Anyaeji, represented by Engr. Jonathan Okoronkwo, called on Agricultural engineers to enlighten the government and investors that Nigerian agricultural engineering firms have to be engaged in order to domesticate the technologies and transfer expertise to local practitioners, pointing out that the time has come for agricultural engineers to have their mentalities upscaled for participation in diverse areas of the sector.

In his speech, Chairman of the occasion and Executive Chairman, Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr Sam Amadi, commended the organizers of the lecture for creating public service models for the youths to emulate, stressing the need for the public sector to interface with the private sector in driving development, calling for a robust synergy in putting agriculture on the right footing in the country.

Earlier in his Welcome Address, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Hillary Edeoga, said the PUGNAML “has become a biennial event that bridges the town and gown to rub minds on the role of Engineering and Technology in national development,” noting that the theme of the lecture is “timely and very important,” adding that introducing modern technology into agriculture has become imperative because “agricultural production using the old traditional manual implement is not sustainable”.

In his Opening Remarks, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Professor Ogbonnaya Okoro, noted that the lecture is aimed at developing role models for our students as well as create platforms for strategic interactions and serve as a forum to discuss achievements, challenges and prospects of Engineering and Technology in the country.