FUNAAB’s Maiden Skill-Driven Career Fair Closes on a High Note

The Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) has reinforced its national reputation for youth development and industry-aligned training as it rounded off Day Two of its inaugural Skill-Driven Career Fair, organised in partnership with the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and the Skills Development for Youth Employment (SKYE II) Programme—funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and implemented in Nigeria by GIZ.

The closing ceremony, held on November 26, 2025, at the Prof. Oluwafemi Balogun Ceremonial Building, continued to expose final-year students to practical skills, employer engagement, and career insights required to compete in the changing labour market.

Representing the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) and Chairman of the Benchmarking and Employability Committee, Prof. Olukayode Akinyemi, the Dean of the College of Agricultural Management and Rural Development (COLAMRUD), Prof. Emmanuel Fakoya, urged students to optimise the platform, describing the fair as timely and strategically aligned with their transition to the world of work.

Delivering the first keynote, the General Manager of WAFROEX/GOLDSWARM Ltd and FUNAAB alumnus, Mr. Abdulrahman Shomala, drew from a diverse career spanning banking, insurance, and e-commerce to distinguish between a job and a career. He emphasised that contemporary career success is fuelled by curiosity, problem-solving, and innovation rather than certificates alone. Citing Nassim Taleb’s The Black Swan, he encouraged students to embrace uncertainty and pursue value-driven paths.

Speaking on behalf of the Component Manager of GIZ–SKYE II, Ms. Svjetlana Djokic, Mr. Godwin Obhiyeghobu, Vocational Training and Labour Market Advisor at GIZ, highlighted the programme’s commitment to supporting higher institutions like FUNAAB in strengthening youth employability. He charged students to engage industry partners, cultivate transferable skills, understand labour-market dynamics, and stay sensitive to global forces such as technology shifts, demographic trends, economic cycles, and the green transition.

A subsequent presentation by the Managing Director/CEO of Nourished Choice Agro-Allied Foods, Mr. Olabode Orolu, framed the fair’s theme as a call to bridge academic learning with industry-ready competencies. With over 15 years of combined experience in technology and agribusiness, he stressed that employers increasingly value adaptability, innovation, and practical competence.

Mr. Dimeji Kayode of Assetrise Limited commended FUNAAB’s institutional leadership, noting the company’s milestone achievements, including delivering more than three million tubers of yam in four years and managing over 8,000 hectares of oil palm plantations across four states. He highlighted the firm’s Smart Agropreneurship Project (SAP) executed in partnership with FUNAAB, which has supported 20 final-year students and three graduates, adding that Assetrise plans to recruit 10–20 graduates from the University.

In the “CV Clinic Diet” session, the Founder of Rexayo Concepts, Mr. Alli Ayobami, advised students to customise their CVs for remote work opportunities, emphasising independence, communication skills, and digital competence.

The student prototype pitching competition saw WAFROEX sponsor the ₦200,000 first-place prize won by Adeboye Oluwagbemiga Kolawole of Agricultural and Bio-Resources Engineering; Dodopho (Glo) sponsor the ₦100,000 second-place prize won by Iyanuoluwa Afolabi of Soil Science and Land Management; and Nourished Foods fund the ₦80,000 third-place prize won by Opeifa Sumayya Morenikeji of Nutrition and Dietetics.

The closing day recorded over 1,000 student participants and engagement from more than 20 industry partners. The event also had in attendance the Alternate Chairperson of the Employability and Benchmarking Committee and Dean, College of Biosciences (COLBIOS), Prof. Iyabode Kehinde, alongside other stakeholders, including Alhaji Ibrahim Aliyu, TVET Advisor/State Coordinator, GIZ–SKYE.