Several proposals, Motions moved on the floor of the National Assembly since 8th -10th Assembly in bringing and converting the Federal College Of Agriculture,Akure ,FECA to Federal University Of Agriculture. All the efforts have yielded and about to materialized when some land grabbers invaded the institution.
However, delegations have been sent from both Ministry of Agriculture and that of Education in carrying out the visibility study of the expansion but what the officials met on ground as a result of the actions of the land grabbers left them speechless.
More so, all the papers and every necessary documents are already set for the take off but , court cases over who owns the sparce acres of land that harboured the College is slowing down and gradually taking the siting of the University in Ondo State away to another state.
For more than 70 years, the Federal College of Agriculture, Akure (FECA) has been
part of Akure’s history. It began as the School of Agriculture and became the first Federal
institution in the capital city. Its expansive land has historically stretched across areas adjoining
Ijapo, towards today’s Ado Garage, and around Oba-Ile.
That land was preserved for generations as a public asset and today, it is under serious
pressure.
As land became big business in Akure, FECA’s enormous estate became
attractive to land speculators and encroachers. Concerns have been raised over the
progressive encroachment and the legal claims surrounding portions of the institution’s
land.
For years, traditional and political authorities, including the late Arakunrin Oluwarotimi
Akeredolu, were among those who stood firmly against threats to FECA’s land.
But since their passing, the pressure appears to have intensified and here is the greatest
irony:
Just when efforts are being made to transform FECA into a Federal University
of Agriculture, the land required for that university is systematically disappearing.
Some concerned citizens are fighting for the university to be sited in the state capital , for the benefits of the people of the state and the country in general, while allowing the land on
which it should stand to be taken away.
Moreover, the case has gotten to the apex level of the court over the land which some people have already encroached and sold to their allies for personal gains and not minding what their generations yet unborn could benefit from the citing of the University in the state.
The Encroachment of the Federal College of Agriculture,Akure land , needs Ondo State government intervention, possibly in conjunction with Federal government and reacquisition in over riding public interest to enable fulfilling it’s statutory mandate of Agricultural research, education and development.
There is need for political and administrative solutions to the issue which is both lawful and expedient. Invoking the revocation powers under the land Use Act ensures that the land is recovered irrespective of the outcome of litigation.
This approach will not only guarantee the preservation of FECA’s land holding for academic development, it will also demonstrate government’s resolve to protect public institutions against land grabbing.
Ondo State deserves more Federal government institutions and impacts than ever. Since 1976, the state has suffered so well among its peers with evidences available.
Certain individuals should not by now , base on their selfish interests, pull down the ladder of progress that is with us.
