Aug. 23, 2021

The Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR), has called for closer collaboration with the Federal University Dutse (FUD), Jigawa, on improved research to accelerate date palm cultivation.

The Executive Director, Dr. Celestine Ekonoebe, made the call during a courtesy visit to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Abdulkadir Sabo, on Monday in Dutse.

According to him, sustained and effective collaboration remain key for achieving improved research in the date palm cultivation.

Ekonoebe said his visit was to explore areas of partnership with the university in research development at the institute’s date palm sub-station in Dutse.

The partnership, he said, would be in the areas of resource and manpower development in the institutions.

“Now with this station here in Dutse, and I as Chief Executive Officer of NIFOR, should be able to draw lessons learnt in our work over time so that we can correct errors.

“And where we have done well, we strengthen those areas and consolidate on that.

“We have to also seek for areas of collaboration with other institutions around here, particularly the FUD, to be able to find out ways of possible collaboration where our work will have crosscutting issues and relationship.

“We are also here to interact with key stakeholders to strengthen our relationship. And where there is none, we establish and foster them for the benefit of NIFOR and the people we work for, that is farmers, who are the key stakeholders.

“In the areas where the university has some facilities, we can harness and tap on those facilities, that means we don’t have to replicate such facilities.

“And that does not stop us from having our own facilities, we just take advantage of facilities near us,” he said.

According to him, the collaboration will enable the institutions to work faster and better in research to encourage productivity.

He added that the visit was also to seek for the university’s cooperation for NIFOR to access parts of its land that contained two gene pools.

“Much of our land is now in FUD, and that land contains two of our two key gene pools.

“Therefore, we want to solicit the university’s cooperation in assessing these genes so that we have unhindered access to them.

“This is because we are still evaluating them and using them for research,” he said.

The executive director, who decried the level of dilapidation of the sub-station, assured that it would gradually be upgraded and equipped for conducive research.

“Over time, our infrastructure has dilapidated and we were not able to give it the needed attention.

“So we need to address this infrastructure gap and we will gradually renovate and equip it with standard required for conducive research work.”

According to him, the sub-station’s laboratory will also be equip to do work on lower level, adding that the higher research work could be done either at the university or the institute’s laboratory in Benin, Edo.

On staff welfare, Ekonoebe said the institute would initiate regular communication to mitigate any error in that regard.

Responding, Sabo pledged the university’s sustained collaboration, saying the two institutions could achieve their common goal in research work through effective collaboration.

Ekonoebe was accompanied in the visit by Dr. Lius Enabuere, the Head of Date Palm Research Department and Mr. Hamza Abdulhamid, the Officer in Charge of Date Palm Sub-Station, Dutse, among other senior officers of the institute.

Date palm is widely grown in Jigawa, while its capital, Dutse, which is known for different species of date palm, has a large population of date palm growers. (NAN)