Construction work at the new Agricultural Machinery and Equipment Development Institute (AMEDI) located in Obudu, Cross River state, a development institute under the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), is near completion.
The Federal Government following a presidential approval, directed NASENI to establish six Agricultural Machinery and Equipment Development Institute, one per each geo-political zone of the country to carry out research and development, manufacturing of machines and equipment toward sustaining food security and generation of agricultural-based jobs for the teeming youths. The project was conceived in 2022 and the groundbreaking was also done in the same year.
One of the goals of AMEDI is to revolutionize Nigeria’s agricultural sector by introducing mechanized farming and to automate the processing of farm produce toward achieving value addition and help to carry out repairs and servicing of existing farm machineries.
It is hoped that the upscaling of farm machineries and products by AMEDI will help guarantee food security in the South-South geo-political zone and its environs, which is one of the cardinal focuses of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
The Monitoring and Evaluation team from NASENI headquarters carried out an inspection visit to the institute on 20 February, 2025 to assess the level of work done on the 20 hectares of land. The team were received by the Project Manager, Dr Oluwaseyi Ogungbenro and the site contractor. The assessment team was conducted round the facilities to see things for themselves.
Apart from the gate house, there were 5 standing structures at various stages of completion. The Administrative building has been completed, yet to be handed over to NASENI by contractor. Workshop 1 has been completed and handed over to NASENI. Workshop 2 was at 85% completion and the contractor promised to deliver within two weeks. The Training Complex was at 50% stage and the last structure on site was the Virtual Manufacturing Laboratory at 65% percent completion.
According to Dr Ogungbenro, the major challenges facing the construction site were youth restiveness and security challenge which the Agency will address soon.
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