Akinwumi Adesina, former Nigerian minister of agriculture and rural development and current president of the African Development Bank has bagged a honorary doctorate from the University of Alberta, Canada.
He received the honour of Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa, from the prestigious university on June 4, 2019.
At the event, the University of Alberta in line with its tradition of presenting rare books to honorary degree recipients, handed over Chinua Achebe’s first edition copy of Things Fall Apart published in 1958. The book was thereafter donated to the Bruce Peel Special Collections Library in line with the university’s tradition.
Speaking while recieving the award, Adesina who grew up in a village recalled his inability to get into medical school despite his father’s insistence.
He said even though he performed well in exams, his grades were not sufficient to get him into medical school but secured him admission to study agriculture to which his father’s said, “God must want you in agriculture.”
He went on to become reputed as Nigeria’s best serving minister when he served as the minister of agriculture.
Adesina, who is a first-class Agricultural Economics from the University of Ife (Obafemi Awolowo University) encouraged young people not to give up on their dreams regardless of where they started from while promising to continue to do his best to revolutionize the agricultural sector.
