The Federal Government has approved a N30 billion grant to 30 public universities of agriculture to begin mechanised farming.
Additionally, N17 billion has been allocated to 18 medical schools to train healthcare professionals, including medical doctors, dentists, pharmacists, and nurses across the country.
According to the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, each university will receive N1 billion as a take-off grant for the initiative.
He emphasized the importance of universities of agriculture owning and operating mechanized farming systems.
Dr. Alausa directed specialized universities to focus strictly on their core mandates and stop offering programs unrelated to their original mandates.
“Your University of Agriculture should focus on what you are set up to do. We have federal universities of technology offering courses in Insurance. Let your universities of technology focus on what they were set up to do,” he said.
The Minister also highlighted the need for universities to incorporate technical vocational skills into their curriculum, enabling students to graduate with life skills.
He noted that there are over one million job vacancies available internationally in areas such as software methodologies, cloud computing, machine learning, and AI.
Furthermore, Dr. Alausa announced that the government would launch special impact projects in 18 universities, focusing on medical schools to train doctors, dentists, pharmacists, and nurses.
The government will also provide 25 electric tricycles to universities for student use and introduce student startup innovation and entrepreneurial grants to support innovative students.