LANDMARK PROGRESS

 

 

Landmark University, Omu Aran, in Irepodun Local Governemnt Area of Kwara State, is in its fifth year of existence. But within those years, it has made some unique strides which made the school stand out from other schools or universities of Agriculture.
Speaking on the uniqueness of the institution during its second convocation ceremony, the Chancellor Landmark University, Bishop David Oyedepo noted that the University has continued to exhibit remarkable progress “in all areas, in all academic disciplines and in all frontiers of learning as evident in some of the following areas: in pursuing the agrarian vision, the university maintained the three established farms as a training ground for raising the envisioned army of agricultural entrepreneurs that will actually break new grounds on graduation by bringing into reality the food security  aspiration of our nation and continent.”
According to him, Landmark is the first established privately owned high institution of agriculture, and to demonstrate this, the school’s commitment to agricultural entrepreneurship run a thriving commercial farm, with broilers birds, laying birds, fish ponds, crop and livestock production which has been steadily expanding. Their products are on display at the University Garden and major towns around Omu Aran up to Ekiti and Osun States. This, he said, will help to boost internally generated revenue for the University.
The chancellor who is also the Presiding Bishop of Living Faith Church Worldwide, a.k.a Winners Chapel stated that what makes the university different from others is the establishment of over 534 hectares of Jatropha plant farm in a village, Eleyin, close to Omu Aran which he said is the first phase of the project. He further noted: “Our quest towards wealth creation and generation of gainful employment in the country, the Eleyin Farm Plantation, was established for Jatropha; it is a bio-fuel plant of great economic value and it’s being developed along this direction by the School of Engineering. The project that commenced in April 2014 has started yielding encouraging output as some harvested Jatropha seeds have been processed into diesel by the Agricultural and Chemical Engineering Departments of the University. Currently, the diesel from the seeds is being used to power the school generator and tractors.”
Oyedepo disclosed that this unique stride will be on a test-run for 12 months in which more research will be conducted to improve the quality of the diesel and its sustainability noting that he has directed the university to expand to other equipments using diesel in the school. “After the test-run for a period of one year, we can then invite stakeholders to come in and see what we are doing here which, in the long run, will be establishment of a refinery at the farm,” he said.
He noted that in line with the visionary focus of the university, the institution manages her massive teaching and research farm where products like maize, soyabean, groundnut, cassava, vegetables, cattle, piggery, sheep, goat, rabbitry and poultry. Apart from these, Greenhouse ample production capacity of tomato, cucumber, grape and strawberry operates. Further groundbreaking efforts, according to the Chancellor are being intensified to yield exotic cows for milk productions, rice production, and irrigation system has been put in place to enhance all seasons cropping, adding that Biotechnology Laboratory that will ease yoghurt and feed production preparation is on top gear between Agricultural Research Centre and Landmark University Development Ventures to launch ‘Landmark Biscuit’ into the market.
He expressed his joy that the university efforts rather being diminished are being rather stepped up as we groom students in the art of farming regardless of their respective course of study as a way of empowering, promoting self-reliance and dignity of labour among them, towards a revolutionary contribution to national development.
The Chancellor disclosed that all the 23 programmes being run by the University have been accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC), having met the prescribed human, material and other academic resources requirements. “Consequently all of the 23 programmes so accredited will be graduating students. This is a great improvement when compared with the 13 programmes in the first graduation year,” he stated.
In an amazingly matchless pace, Landmark University, in just four years of existence has ascended into the prestigious category of the top 10 universities in Nigeria, he noted. “In the January 2015 edition of the Webometrics, Landmark University took 2nd position among private universities and ranked 9th among 13 private and public universities in Nigeria,” he enthused. “The Institute of Democratic governance had earlier awarded an honour to the university for being the second best private university in Nigeria.”
Oyedepo announced plans by the institution to run new courses in Food Science and Nutrition, Aquaculture and Fishery Management, Forest Resources and Wildlife Management and Veterinary Services among others. This, he said would enable the institution to provide relevant educational services to its host communities. The Chancellor also proudly announced that the academic staff have been advancing and speedily attaining global prominence through their quality research contributions in high impact journals both locally and internationally. “The Google Scholar citation of recognition was given two months ago to three of our lecturers out of 600 researchers recognised in Nigeria,” he disclosed.
A breakdown of the 2015 convocation shows that 59 of the 573 graduating students of Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Kwara State made First Class degrees, 226 Second Class Upper honours; 276 Second Class Lower while 12 made Third Class.