By Saidu Abubakar
Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria has proposed a unified, evidence-based, and fully integrated intervention to address agricultural and human capacity development in Zamfara State.
This was contained in a statement by the Public Affairs Directorate, Office of the Vice-Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (NAM).
It said that the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Adamu Ahmed, presented the blueprint to His Excellency, Dr. Dauda Lawal, the Executive Governor of Zamfara State.
Prof. Ahmed made the presentation when the governor came to the university to commission an upgraded departmental library at the institution’s Department of Political Science and International Studies.
The governor, who is an alumnus of the university having graduated from the Department of Political Science and International Studies in 1988, refurbished the library.
Presenting the proposal to the governor, the Vice-Chancellor said the university developed the blueprint through its three leading agricultural research institutes – IAR, NAPRI, and NAERLS – as well as the Institute of Education and Institute of Administration.
The Vice-Chancellor, who acknowledged the effort of the governor in prioritising merit-based reforms in the state, explained that the proposal was at no costs to Zamfara State government.
He said the harmonised framework as captured in the proposal blends crop research and climate resilience, livestock innovation, last-mile extension delivery, and human capacity development into a single transportation agenda for the state.
The interventions, according to him, would be run as capacity build in the mode of train-the-trainers and delivered largely via the virtual mode through the facilities of ABU Distance Learning Centre.
The Vice-Chancellor explained that the goal was to restore crop and livestock productivity in the state as well as to strengthen resilience of households and communities to climate shocks and challenges of insecurity.
He also said it was to train extension agents in modernized extension delivery systems, build institutional capacity of ministries, ADP, cooperatives, civil service, teacher service and communities.
Prof. Ahmed further said the proposal was tailored towards transforming the state civil service through comprehensive capacity building programmes for senior, middle, and top directorate cadres.
The Vice-Chancellor commended Governor Dauda Lawal for his administration’s decision to appoint permanent secretaries through rigorous examination processes rather than political favouritism.
Ahmed also lauded Governor Dauda Lawal’s government for prioritizing capacity-building programmes, conducting training sessions for procurement staff, audit officers, and administrative leaders.
Receiving the document, His Excellency, Dr. Dauda Lawal, the Executive Governor of Zamfara, expressed his government’s immense gratitude to the Vice-Chancellor and the university management for the passion to help transform the state.
Governor Dauda Lawal, who said he would remain grateful to Ahmadu Bello University for shaping his life, promised to continue to give back to his alma mater.
