University of Ilorin’s N600 million poultry farm located in Amoyo, Ifelodun local government area of Kwara State, has been commissioned.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) financed the project with a N600 million loan.
Speaking during the commissioning of the project, the vice chancellor of the university, Professor Sulyman Age AbdulKareem said that the poultry farm would contribute to food security in Nigeria.
AbdulKareem also said that the project would help to bridge the wide gap between the demand for poultry products and the supply brought about largely by the ban on importation of poultry products.
He said that the poultry farm would make the university witness a huge leap in its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), “making money available for critical aspects of the university’s operations, especially in the areas of research and physical development.”
“Our research efforts will also be boosted by the farm as it represents a veritable laboratory for the students and the staff. The students are also made to see first-hand the entrepreneurial side of what they are taught in the classroom, re-orientating them to a mindset of creators of employment in the agribusiness sector (as agripreneur), as against that of white-collar jobs-seeking graduates.
“The journey has been long and hard for us as a university. The university took a N600m loan from the CBN at a concessionary interest rate of 9% (5% for the first one year) and a repayment period of six years, with a moratorium on the repayment of the principal for one year. Zenith Bank PLC is the Participating Financial Institution (PFI) on this project. Accessing the loan required the university to set up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for the project.
The SPV is Unilorin Bizface synergy Limited a Limited Liability Company registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission.
“At the height of construction, the site had over 200 artisans earning their daily sustenance from it. Today, the farm has 55 full time employees and has created space for our students to work on part-time basis as they study. The university has also set aside the sum of N5 million for an Out-grower programme for the students of Agriculture, Veterinary Medicine, and allied courses in the Faculty of Education. To date, these have been our modest contribution to generating employment and lightening up the local economy.
“This project has reverberating effects. As part of the backward integration, the university is developing a 2,000-hectare land for maize and soya beans cultivation for exclusive use on the poultry farm. Another backward integration planned is the establishment of its own hatchery.
“As a forward integration, we are planning to establish an egg-powder production facility. In all that we have done so far and what we plan to do, we have kept faith with our Total Land Use (TLU) policy that has been our abiding principle from day one of my administration”.
In his remarks, the CBN governor, Dr. Godwin Emefiele, said that despite the fact that Nigeria is the largest producer of eggs and the second largest producer of chicken meat in Africa, demand gap for eggs and meat stands at and outstrips current supply by 1.2million metric tonnes and 140,000metric tonnes for meat and eggs respectively.
Represented by the CBN director, Development Finance, Ayila Yusuf, the CBN boss said that the demand gap had driven smuggling of unhealthy frozen chicken into the country.
