One hundred and twenty sponsored scholars are running their Masters and PhD programmes in Brazil with a view to under studying their agricultural revolution policy and its impact on the national economy.

The scholars are sponsored by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund) in partnership with the Agricultural Research and Innovation Fellowship for Africa (ARIFA).

Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, at a symposium at the Federal University Viçosa, Brazil, said the focus was leading the transformation of public tertiary institutions in Nigeria to make them more relevant to addressing developmental challenges and improve their global ranking.

According to Echono, TETfund would spare nothing to strengthen collaboration with the Federal University of Vicosa, Brazil, the Agricultural Research and Innovation Fellowship for Africa, ARIFA and the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa FARA to effectively deploy science and technology research in agriculture.

Ambassador of Nigeria to Brazil, Prof Mohammad Makarfi, described the symposium as timely in line with the Federal Government’s effort at ensuring food security and curtailing importation.

The 120 Nigerian scholars currently running their master and PhD programme in Brazil would be conferred fellows of ARIFA at the end of their studies.