The Dean, Faculty of Agriculture in the Rivers State University, Nkpolu Oruworukwo Port Harcourt,  Prof. Nkalo Hudson Ukoima, says arrangements are on to ensure the successful hosting  of  the  2019  Agric Expo  billed to hold in the university next month.
The event which has the theme ,“Agriculture, Looking Beyond Oil,” is geared towards providing an alternative avenue to diversify  the nation’s economy.
Ukoima stated this  when he led other members of the faculty  to pay  a courtesy visit on the Acting Vice-Chancellor of the University in her office, last Friday
He  disclosed that the proposed Agric Expo will have   sister universities from the South-South region and other stakeholders in attendance, adding that it  will be an avenue for the exchange of  knowledge , learning, skill acquisition as well as  revenue generation.
Also speaking ,the Chairman of the Local Organising Committee, Dr. Foby Isaiah disclosed that the proposed Agric Expo will hold from  25th to 28th of September, 2019 at the university campus, adding that it would feature symposium, workshop, lecture, exhibition and training of farmers by the various departments in the faculty.
Dr Isaiah while congratulating the Acting Vice-Chancellor on her recent appointment as the first female to head the institution since its inception in 1980,  prayed  God to grant her the wisdom to pilot the affairs of the University.
In her response, the Acting Vice-Chancellor Prof. Opuenebo Binya Owei assured the delegation of the support of the University’s management towards the success of the event stating that the enormity of such symposium will not just benefit  only the university community but the entire  states in the South-South region.
Prof. Owei commended the Faculty of Agriculture and its leadership for initiating such an excellent programme which she said ,was in line with the Federal Government’s recent policy  on foreign agricultural goods in the country, adding that the North and South-West are already making huge revenue from the exportation of agricultural produce.
She called on Agric lecturers and other stakeholders in the South-South region to borrow a leaf from their counterparts in the North and South-West by exploring the opportunities in the agricultural sector, stressing that with the way agricultural produce are now packaged in supermarkets shows that agric business is no longer a poor man’s job.