I have followed the different discussions since the beginning of this
conference with keen interest and I have learnt a thing or two.

I am a graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife Nigeria.
My area of interest is Environmental Management.

My undergraduate thesis was based on experiments carried out on 3 species of
rabbit, this was done on the farm in question and I am apt to say that,
unless the factors responsible for its failure are enumerated, the solutions
preferred at such a forum as this will be superfluous.

Having said this much, I wish to add that I am of the opinion that employing
an EXPATRIATE to run its affairs, will not be a viable solution, it may
appear to succeed for a while, but can the level of professionalism be
sustained after the exit of such a person ?

I fully subscribe to the ideas of Lylian and Simon, even though there has to
be modification/variations in the approach to checkmate the pitfalls that
this peculiar society/culture has to offer.

Prof. Sonaiya:
Sir,
I fully appreciate your plight, especially after seeing so many years of
hardwork go down the drain, due to years of official neglect and
mismanagement, it is a sad reflection of our national predicament, However,
I still believe that there are quite a number of qualified Nigerians you can
recruit and who can impart knowledge of sound Farm management practices.

This is against the backdrop of the fact that the school of Agriculture at
OAU has produced quite a number of graduates in the years it has been in
existence, are we now saying that we can't find ONE of these people, who is
committed enough to make it work?

I think the way forward is a degree of / complete autonomy of the Farm,
this will go along way in establishing some measure of accountability as
well as encourage sustainable management practices.

With Best Regards,

Oke Oladapo