The Director General of the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Mr. Onallo Akpa, has called for the cooperation of all stakeholders in the agricultural and animal health sectors for the betterment of both sectors in the industry.

Mr. Akpa made this call on Wednesday while delivering the Anniversary Lecture at the Opening Ceremony of the 60th anniversary and Convocation Ceremony of the Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology (FCAH&PT) held at Dr. K. J. Nwufoh Hall, FCAH&PT, Ibadan.

Speaking on the theme of the anniversary, “Harnessing the Potentials of Colleges of Agriculture to Achieve Food Security in Nigeria”, the Guest Speaker, who noted that the college has come a long way as sixty years is not sixty days, pointed that colleges of agriculture all over the world are problem solvers.

The problem-solving abilities of these colleges of Agric across the world, according to Onallo, is why they are distinctly established for clinical and practical knowledge purposes and can solve societal problems.

Defining food security as the ability to access food in good quantity and good quality, the Speaker told his audience that “we are supposed to be pioneers of food supply in Nigeria” but Nigeria is at a crossroad today for many reasons such as Boko Haram insurgency, Farmers/Herders crisis, Civil unrest, Natural disasters, diseases and so on.

He also questioned the audience on what stakeholders, practitioners and experts are doing to curb these problems, confronting them on the need to do better in their efforts.

On the auspicious diamond jubilee anniversary of FCAH&PT, the PAN DG said it also calls for the need to be very sober-reflective, as over 40% of small-scale agricultural firms are shutting down because they cannot feed their birds.

However, Onallo continued that Poultry industry in Nigeria is a gamechanger and everyone including the public must be united. “The future of the world, whether we like it or not, is Africa, and we cannot talk of Africa without Nigeria. I challenge us today, while we need to invest in infrastructure and technology, we need to be very innovative.”

Challenging the FCAH&PT Provost to give their students mandates that will gear them to be creative, he furthered that there is need to change the agricultural curriculum from only depending on certificates to practicalities.

“I am not a prophet of doom. It is going to be bad than it is now, but for those who can be innovative, for those who can put their energy into agriculture, we will survive it,” he said.