The University of Nigeria, Nsukka, (UNN) says it is embarking on a tractorisation project!

The project is aimed at moving Nigeria out of the stranglehold of food insecurity.

The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor  Benjamin Ozumba, told Newsmen  in Abuja that the university, in collaboration with some foreign and Nigerian universities, the private sector, governments and other relevant stakeholders, would begin the project with the production of 500 tractors.

Ozumba said that the project would be executed via four platforms, adding that these included the Tractor Assembly/Manufacturing Production (TAMP) and Tractor Value Chain Support Service (TVCSS) schemes.

He explained the other two platforms would be the Tractor Vocational and Entrepreneurship Programme (TCEP) and the Tractor Outreach/Extension Workshop Support Centres (TOEWSC) schemes.

According to him, the vision is to move Nigeria out of this stranglehold of food insecurity to food security so that the country can export and make more  money.

The vice-chancellor, who noted that Nigeria was a commodity-based economy, said the university was embarking on the project so as to facilitate the transition of the country from a commodity-based economy to a knowledge-based economy.

He disclosed that the tractorisation project was introduced, as part of efforts to commercialise the institution to enable it to be self-financing, while generating revenue for the Federal Government.

With the tractorisation, he stated that the country will be able to generate more than 15 billion dollars annually to pay the external debts and run the country.