Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, FUNAAB, Ogun State, has been awarded the Africa Centre of Excellence, ACE, in agriculture by the World Bank at Dakar, Senegal. The university was chosen after a rigorous desk evaluation exercise, followed by a site evaluation by the ACE Project Steering Committee. According to the global bank, a breakdown of the result revealed that the higher institution is one of the seven ACEs in Nigeria and the only one for agriculture in the country.
Olusola Oyewole, the vice chancellor of the institution, explained that the project was launched to promote regional specialisation among participating institutions in areas that address specific common regional challenges, strengthening the capacity of these schools to deliver quality training and applied research, as well as meet demand for skills required for African development. He says: “The project is expected to focus on strengthening the beneficiary institutions with an investment of about $8 million in each of the centres of excellence selected, using the criteria benchmarked to the best international practice.”
Other institutions that are also centres of excellence in Nigeria are Redeemer’s University, Mowe, Ogun State, and University of Ibadan, UI, Oyo State, which jointly won the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases, ACEGID in Health; African University of Science and Technology, Abuja, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, STEM; Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Centre of Excellence in Neglected Tropical Diseases and Forensic Biotechnology; University of Jos, Phytomedicine Research and Development, ACEPRD; University of Benin, Centre for Excellence in Reproductive Health and Innovation and University of Port Harcourt ACE Centre for Oil Field Chemicals.