Towards the hosting of the 71st Inaugural Lecture of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Ogun State, an assurance has been given for a hitch-free ceremony. This information was disclosed by the Chairman, Ceremonials Committee (CERECOM), Prof. Akinola Akinlabi and the 71st Inaugural Lecturer of the University, Prof. Ololade Enikuomehin, while featuring on FUNAAB Radio 89.5FM live interactive programme, Boiling Point. The lecture with the theme: “Tending the Inaudible: The Management of Plant Afflictions with the Endowments of Nature”, comes up on Wednesday, November 23, 2022 at the Oluwafemi Balogun Ceremonial Building of the University, beginning from 2pm. Professor Akinlabi, while highlighting necessary arrangements that had been put in place to ensure a successful outing, appealed to all to come early and listen to the lecture, stressing that the joy of any Inaugural Lecturer would be to see people listen well and taking something out of the hall.
On his part, Professor Enikuomehin stressed that the job of a lecturer was to contribute to human development, adding that his research outputs had proffered solutions to how to manage plant diseases. The don, who is of the Department of Crop Protection, College of Plant Science and Crop Production (COLPLANT), said the fact that the government was not encouraging the entrepreneurship was discouraging, saying that unavailability of funds and inadequate facilities had deterred students from going into agriculture. He, however, called for complementary efforts in terms of government policies and interventions from non-governmental organisations, emphasising on the need to have favourable government policies in place that would encourage private enterprises to invest in agriculture and research. “There should be complementary efforts from government and NGOs with emphasis on good policies, which would encourage private sector to effectively invest in agriculture and research”, the Professor added.