The Vice-Chancellor of Covenant University, Ota,Prof.Abiodun Adebayo,has called on tertiary institutions to embrace and support research that would promote food sufficiency in the country.
Adebayo made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Ota,Ogun state.
The don spoke while reacting to April’s inflation rate released by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday in Abuja.
The don emphasised the need for both private and public universities to embark on massive research that would improve food security.
“The country is currently going through food shortage or insufficient, due to security challenges and we all need collective efforts towards tackling the problem.”he said.
The VC said that security challenges contributed to higher inflationary trend in the country, noting that farmers could no longer go to farms due to fear of being killed or kidnapped.
Adebayo also advised the federal and state governments to redouble their efforts and look inward in addressing insecurity of the country so that continuous inflation rate could drastically come down.
He noted that the figure of food inflation,released by NBS, was over 40 per cent,,indicating that food inflation is the major factor driving inflation in the country.
Adebayo restated the commitment of the Covenant University to continue to support research that would bring about growth and development.
NAN reports that NBS on Wednesday,said that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate increased from 33.20 per cent recorded in March, to 33.69 per cent in April 2024.
(www.nannews.ng)
