17/10/2025
NIIA HONOURS FARMER GOVERNOR BAGO WITH PROFESSORIAL CHAIR ON FOOD AND HUMAN SECURITY.
The Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) has endowed the Niger State Governor, farmer Mohammed Umaru Bago, with "a professorial chair on food and human security."
The Director General of the Institute, Prof. Eghosa Osaghae, announced this during the 2025 World Food Day celebration held in Lagos with the theme "Food Security to Food Sovereignty: How far has Nigeria gone?", where the farmer governor was the keynote speaker.
Prof. Osaghae further revealed that the chair, which is internationally competitive, was endowed to him in perpetuity due to the global and international nature of what the farmer governor has been doing, especially in the agricultural sector.
He said the endowment was to consolidate on the inclusive agricultural initiatives of the farmer governor, adding that he has developed agriculture into "a diplomatic art."
The NIIA Director General said the farmer governor has laid foundations for agricultural mechanisation and value chain development; hence, endowing him with a professorial chair will not only sustain his efforts but will also give an intellectual muscle and a footing that is knowledge-based with evidence that will last for years to come.
"The Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, in its 64 years of existence, has stressed the question of sustainability and consolidation of wonderful steps that are unparalleled that people have brought to bear. This is a platform for such sustainability.
"And so we thought, how do we bring all of these things together? We proposed to his excellency the endowment of a chair in his name. And his excellency has generously accepted."
The Chairman of the NIIA Governing Council, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, who also collaborated with the Institute's Director General, applauded the farmer governor for his commitment to national development in spite of security challenges, especially in North Central States