The Chancellor, Landmark University, Dr. David Oyedepo, has asserted that worsening food crisis remained the greatest threat to the survival of Africa as a continent. He said the menace, if not checked could wipe off a whole generation.

He revealed this in his speech at the 6th Convocation ceremony of the University, tagged the Release of Pathfinders, Royal Set of 2019 on Friday, 12th July, 2019. 

Dr. Oyedepo said that Africans must learn to engage in intensive agricultural endeavours if they must survive in the face of impending global food crisis. He said that there was no basis for food insufficiency on the continent and Nigeria in particular, with the abundant arable land and resources readily available. According to him, food security is a major global concern as over billion people are suffering from starvation, hunger and malnutrition. “There is no substitute for food as far as human substance is concerned, there is no software for addressing food challenges.

“No matter the state of the economy of any nation, the last thing to remove from the budget is food. Indeed, food security is not an ideology but a necessity. There is nothing that challenges human dignity like lack of food, with the massive arable land to us as a nation, hunger is obviously an insult in our intelligence,” he said.

The chancellor noted that the need for the institution to address these anomalies informed the introduction and prioritising of agripreneurship, entrepreneurial studies as well as Towards Total Graduate (TTG) concepts of the University. He stated that the institution is very much committed to a new approach to leading an agrarian revolution by making everyone who knows how to eat to also know how to farm.

Dr. Oyedepo expressed the urgent need to repackage the continent’s education system in line with best global standard that seeks solutions to challenges.

He said that a good and formidable formal education system must be “a departure from knowledge to empowerment. It must be a departure from figure to future-building, a departure from points to facts, a departure from mathematics to life-matics and a departure from legalism to realism.’’

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Adeniyi Olayanju, attributed the institution’s landmark achievements to massive spiritual support and continuous investment in ultra-modern facility development. “We are unrelenting in advancing the frontiers of research activities that would, among others boost agricultural value chain. “This, we hope will engender the much needed food sufficiency in our continent,” he said.

Ms Cecilia Akintomide, the convocation Keynote Speaker and former Secretary-General of African Development Bank (AfDB) in her lecture titled, “You Only Get One Shot” urged the Graduands to be very focused and research oriented’.

“You have to stay focused, research-oriented and informed, you have to be bold, you have to be audacious and you must be ready to take well-calculated risks. Have covenant with God in getting a different relationship, “He will guide you and propel the rest of your life,” she said.

The Representative of the Executive Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq; Dr Musa Dasuki, the Permanent Secretary in the State Ministry of Education and Science, commended the foresight of the proprietor base and the passion of the University’s Management in driving the agrarian mandate of the Institution. 

Oba Abdulraheem Adeoti, the Olomu of Omu-Aran, thanked the Chancellor, Dr Oyedepo, and the university’s management for putting the name of the community and Igbomina region in the global limelight.

In the award of degrees for the 6th Convocation, the University produced 51 First class graduates out of 432 graduating students, 182 female and 250 male. Interestingly, 4 female graduands out of 26 who dominated the first-class list emerged overall best from the four colleges of the University.

The Igbomina Royal Fathers, other dignitaries and guests together with the Chancellor proceeded to a luncheon where encomiums and goodwill messages were delivered in torrents, appreciating the hand of God at work in the University.