Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has partnered with the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) to establish and launch the Agricultural Research and Innovation Fellowship For Africa (ARIFA) innovation platform in Nigeria.

ARIFA is aimed at producing a new generation of fit-for-purpose workforce to re-engineer the African agri-food sector to provide the change factor for rapid agricultural transformation in the next 10 years.

The Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, said that TETFund identified six institutions for establishing IPs, namely Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, University of Benin, University of Lagos, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, University of Maiduguri and the University of Jos.

Echono explained that the Fund’s intervention in ARIFA will impact faculties and departments across Nigeria’s tertiary institutions resulting in the delivery of science-led solutions for improved livelihoods while sustaining and advancing academic excellence.

He said TETFund has supported over 120 scholars nominated by the beneficiary institutions, with most Phase I nominees rounding off their programmes this year.

He added that the pre-admission process of the programme’s second phase has since commenced, and TETFund remains committed to supporting another 500 sets of fellows.

According to him, TETFund recognised the ARIFA model as an innovative strategy for revitalizing pedagogy that will strengthen the institutional capacities of Nigeria’s tertiary institutions and contribute to building the knowledge-based economy through its Centres of Excellence (CoE) across the country.

Also, the Executive Director for FARA, Dr. Yemi Akinbamijo, said the program’s launch is the beginning of the realisation of ARIFA training in Brazil and will be very impactful in Nigeria since the two countries have similar climates.