President Bola Tinubu’s administration has taken a major step toward transforming Nigeria’s agricultural sector by approving multi-billion naira grants for two federal universities of agriculture.
This development was disclosed over the weekend by a governing and council member of the Federal University of Agriculture, Bayelsa State, Doyin Johnson. He made the revelation during the swearing-in ceremony of the 2025 Honour of State Icons and the presentation of certificates of return to three zonal executive councils, 33 state executive councils, and 57 local government chairmen by the Intellectual Elite Youth Association of Nigeria in Lagos.
According to Johnson, the grants are part of President Tinubu’s commitment to enhancing food production and empowering smallholder farmers nationwide. This initiative aligns with the administration’s goal of reducing Nigeria’s dependence on imported food products and crude oil.
Johnson, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, also called on Nigerians to support President Tinubu’s efforts in addressing the challenges inherited from past administrations. He urged patience, noting that the president was tackling issues systematically.
According to him, “President Tinubu is not the type of president who wasn’t prepared to run for an election. Nobody hand-picked him to run for election. He has prepared for it for a long time. As a master strategist, he knows what to do to reform the country.
“He started by dealing with the oil subsidy scam, and it did not go down well with the cabals that were reaping where they did not sow. It was too sad that past administrations did not do anything about the scam in oil subsidy. It was President Tinubu who intervened. Did you know that past administrations used our crude oil as a loan? The loan was just paid last August, so better things are coming.”
Continuing, he said the President “is revolutionizing agriculture. President Tinubu appointed me as a governing and council member of the Federal University of Agriculture, Bayelsa. He approved N2.64 billion for agriculture and food surplus, not to spend. The same as that in Mubi, while the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, received a N7 billion grant for farming. So, when you are saying you want to sell your bag of rice for N50,000 and somebody from Abeokuta is selling for N25,000, your price will crash.
“You know, we rely on oil. They took a loan with our crude oil, but they cannot sell agricultural produce like oil. Because they cannot steal from agriculture, they are not investing in it. They can steal from mining. They were just mining the gold and other bitumen and exporting them free of charge, without paying any dime to the government. Now, President Tinubu has withdrawn all the mining licenses; they are just renewing them now.
“Many Chinese just extracted gold in connivance with some powerful people in Nigeria. They transport them by jet and fly them outside the country. But that has stopped. In a few months to come, Nigeria will be benefiting from the mineral resources which unscrupulous people were mining.”
He also highlighted some of the administration’s key achievements, including the introduction of student loans, which he described as unprecedented in Nigeria’s history.
He confidently stated, “Next year will be better than this year. I therefore urge Nigerians both at home and in the diaspora to rally around Tinubu and support him so that he can accomplish his good dreams for the country.”
