Ondo Polytechnic Assures Host Communities of Food Security

THE Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo (RUGIPO) in Ondo State, has mapped out plans to provide food security to its host communities in 2025.

The rector of the polytechnic, Mr Olorunwa Adegun, disclosed this on Monday at the school grounds after prayers for the family of late Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr Temitayo Oluwatuyi.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that Oluwatuyi died on Saturday as a result of injuries sustained in an auto crash on Dec. 15, 2024.

Adegun explained that the institution would harness its vast lands to address poverty in both the institution and it’s host communities.

“We are having 1,500 hectares of land. If we decide to put our house together, we are going to drive away poverty and we can make millions from that place.

“For the first time last year, we were able to make N740,000 from agriculture. My position is that we should aggressively go into farming,” he said.

The rector said the polytechnic had the wherewithal to provide food security for the entire communities around the institution.

“We have the land, we have the technicalities, we have the equipment here and there. If the will is there and our people are ready, that is what I am here to do,” he said.

Adegun said that the institution should not continually rely heavily on government to provide for it.

The rector said that the polytechnic would partner with organisations and other sister institutions that could be of assistance in achieving its farming drive.

He said that the institution was able to pay its staff salaries in full throughout 2024, unlike when the workers would be paid 20 per cent of monthly salaries.

The rector added that his leadership had been able to reduce the 14-month salary arrears to 6 months through the intervention of the state governor.

Also speaking, the Chaplain of RUGIPO, Rev. Rufus Awoniyi, prayed for the deceased family and the wellness of the state governor.

According to Awoniyi, the institution’s restoration is long overdue, and if restoration must come, there must be true repentance and a change of attitude to work.

In his remarks, the Chief Imam of the institution, Alhaji Tijani Raji, prayed for the polytechnic, saying that hardship would be removed from the institution.

According to Raji, the Quran says that after hardship there will be ease and joy, hence, the need to exercise patience for germination of success and transformation.