IITA Board of Trustees commends institute management

Tue, Jan 7, 2020
By publisher
3 MIN READ

Business

THE Board of Trustees (BoT) of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has given a vote of confidence and commendation to the institute’s management under the leadership of its Director General, Dr. Nteranya Sanginga.

Board Chair, Dr. Amos Ngongi, expressed delight over the management and growth of IITA over the last eight years particular, the vast array of agricultural research works currently being implemented by IITA in Africa.

The board gave the commendation in a statement made available to the the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.

Ngongi lauded the efforts of Sanginga for initiating the “Start Them Early Programme” (STEP)— an intervention designed to take agribusiness studies to primary and secondary school students, engaging them in club participation, course work, and experimental learning.

The board chair noted other areas of achievements to include the infrastructural development that would drive agricultural research to a higher level.

“One of the infrastructures is the recently inaugurated IITA Kalambo research station in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and its subsequent renaming as President Olusegun Obasanjo Research Campus in October 2019.

“The facility now features a first-class tissue culture lab for the multiplication of cassava, banana, cocoa, yam, and potato.

“According to the Board of Trustees’ report on Tuesday, members of the BoT were also highly impressed with the partnership and delivery efforts of the institute that has resulted in successful collaborative efforts to tackle hunger and poverty on the continent,”he noted.

The BoT specifically, lauded the collaborative relationships IITA had entered with the Nelson Mandela University, the Tanzanian Government and all other national governments and institutions.

Ngongi in his assessment of IITA 2019 annual meeting tagged: “Research for Development Week”, said that the quality of the presentations was highly commendable.

He stressed that the rigorous studies on impact conducted by the institute very own socioeconomic staff was impressive.

The BoT chair expressed hope that IITA would reach the target of lifting 11 million out of poverty.

Sanginga expressed his appreciation to the board, the management team, directors and staff for their dedication to IITA.

The DG assured that for the remaining part of his tenure, which ends in 2021; IITA would increase the role of women in science and leadership positions while strengthening and modernising the research infrastructure.

He also listed other areas of focus as training in soft skills, expanding IITA’s expertise in human nutrition, protecting the research initiated under the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH CRP).

“IITA under my leadership other areas of focus is also on expanding its coverage of the continent,” he assured. (NAN)

– Jan. 7, 2020 @ 16:15 GMT |

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