By Tukura Matthew

The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has said that the College of Agriculture, Lafia in Nasarawa State ranks among the top ten colleges of agriculture in the country.

Mr. Aloysius Mpieri of the NBTE stated this when he led other members of the accreditation team to a two-day visit to the college, last week.

Mr. Mpieri said the NBTE has been monitoring the college since 1988 and was satisfied with the progress so far made by the college.

Mr. Mpieri who said the team was in the college for the accreditation of its fisheries and animal health production technology programmes stressed that the exercise was not to witch-hunt the college but to make sure that the training and facilities were up to standard so as to make the college grow.

Mr. Mpieri said the board was laying emphasis on entrepreneurship, so that students of the college could carryout feasibility studies to be self employed after graduation "instead of looking for government jobs that are hard to get."

Mr. Mpieri expressed satisfaction at the level of development in the college and assured the state government of the material benefit the college would bring to the state.

Nasarawa State commissioner for agriculture and natural resources, Malam Mohammed Oyigye Iyimoga said government would do more by providing modern facilities required to sustain the already accredited courses offered by the institution and strife to provide more of such facilities for subsequent approval of programmes that have not been accredited.

Malam Iyimoga said that the state government appreciated the intervention by NBTE in setting standards for the regulation of academic programmes of the college.

He said government was pleased with the board carrying its statutory obligations in promoting vocational and technical education in the country.

Earlier in his welcome address provost of the college, Dr. Napoleon Saingbe appealed to the state government to provide a 2, 000 capacity lectures hall that would accommodate the increasing number of students that have grown from mere 100 students in 1977 to now three thousand students.

"We are full of appreciation to the government especially the incumbent governor, Alhaji Aliyu Akwe Doma for placing agriculture as one of his thirteen (13) point agenda and providing the required resources to the sector, in his desire to promote the food security programmes of the Federal Government and overcome the current global food crisis," he said.