Michael Okpara agric varsity receives post-harvest hub from NSPRI — Features — The Guardian Nigeria News – Nigeria and World News
The Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI), Ilorin, Kwara State has handed over a Post-Harvest Hub built for the use of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), Abia State, to the institution.
The success story of the hub was however, not without two serious setbacks, which nearly hampered its completion. On Tuesday, September 29, 2023, while on their way to MOUAU, some of the workers of NSPRI were abducted at Umulolo, near Okigwe, Imo State, where they were dispossessed of the Hilux Vehicle conveying them, their Laptops that had all data related to the project among others.
The second incident was the MOUAU students’ unrest of February 6, 2024 in the campus, during which the students attacked the hub and destroyed the facilities already put in place.
During the event, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Maduebibisi Ofo Iwe, said the university would remain grateful to NSPRI for completing the project, despite the two deterring incidents.
The NSPRI Executive Director, Professor Lateef Oladimeji Sanni said the hub was in line with President Bola Tinubu’s charge for solutions to address agriculture post-harvest losses due to absence of post harvest storage and preservation facilities in place in the country.
According to him, the hub provides these facilities to preserve and process agricultural harvests and use for researchers and to train students, disclosing that MOUAU is the first to benefit from such, while other beneficiaries that will be selected from other zones in the country will follow.
Coordinator of the Hub, Professor Greg Onwuka and Dean of the College of Applied Food Science and Tourism, predicted that in the next few months, the university will through the hub activities begin to avail the community and the public of its products and services.
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