…As Obasanjo delivers 85th anniversary lecture
By Adeyinka Adeniran
Federal College of Forestry, Ibadan said it has concluded arrangement to train youths in the medicinal properties that the natural herbs in the Nigerian forests offer.
According to the institution, such experts will be able to produce and manage herbs for effective treatment of known ailments.
Speaking, the Provost and Chief Executive Officer of the College, Dr Ibraheem Lawal made the disclosure during a press conference to announce plans to celebrate the 85th Anniversary of the College and the 76th – 83rd combined convocation ceremony.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is billed to deliver the anniversary and convocation lecture entitled “85 years of nurturing nature, the legacy and future of Forestry education in Nigeria”.
He said the College will be collaborating with international research institutes and bodies in respect of both staff and students, for academic, research grants by initially introducing certificate courses in Bio Science and Indigenous Knowledge System, and Bio Technology on the training for the youths on the medicinal herbs.
Dr Lawal said, “The College is taking very bold steps towards re-energizing all efforts at committing our youths, those who attend the College, to being self-reliant. We will encourage all our students to see the promise in utilizing their skills rather searching for white collar jobs.
“To this end, our students will be spending valuable time on different plantations outside the city of Ibadan in addition to hands on practicals in the College demonstration plots.
“In addition, the College intends to introduce: Bio Science and Indigenous Knowledge System, and Bio Technology. The two programmes will at the initial stage be run as certificate courses to train youths in the medicinal properties that the natural herbs in our forests offer.
“Such experts will be able to produce and manage herbs for effective treatment of known ailments.
“The College will be collaborating with international research institutes and bodies in respect of both our staff and students, for academic, research grants.
“Creating a department for Bioscience and the Indigenous Knowledge System, it just come at the right time, and also for Biotechnology. This will give us a great opportunity for us to train and teach the students, the youth of these days.
“They can be self-reliant on the potency and the usage of herbal medicine because this course will expose them to so many importance of herbal medicine, and how they can able to take good care of the society.
“And by this, they can be self-employed, and it will reduce the damages and the issues on the misidentification, and also be a kind of succor to the high cost of the conventional drugs in the society.”
He appealed to the Federal Government to extend the privilege of benefiting from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) to monotechnics in the country so as to have more resources to aid research and training.
“This is a clarion call for the government to support all the monotechnics, to help make sure that they are back in and able to fit in the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
“This will help in having basic amenities in all the monotechnics in the country, especially because Federal College of Forestry is a hub for protecting the environmental issues in the country.
“We are training students to combat the environmental issues, we are researching on the way of combating the climate change, and we are also training on how to make sure that the flood and the deforestation is becoming a thing of the past in Nigeria, and also help the world at large.”
He said highpoint of the celebration will be convocation awards and presentation of prizes, 85th year anniversary awards to Distinguished Alumni and other eminent persons and fund raising of N500million for the construction of multipurpose Hall in the institution.
