A delegation from the United Kingdom Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) recently paid a four-day visit to IITA headquarters in Ibadan to review the existing partnership between the two organizations.
The FCDO Food and Agriculture Advisor Nicholas Baynham and Deputy Program Manager Naanchin Muhammad were received by IITA Deputy Director General, Partnerships for Delivery (DDG-P4D), Kenton Dashiell and other members of the Institute’s Management team.
In his opening remarks, Baynham said the visit was to learn and experience the research side of the MoUs that have been signed, such as the recently signed one with HarvestPlus.
He stated that the visit is part of the team’s plans to have better oversight of what the UK does in Nigeria, “to know about what we are funding and contributing to while exploring what we can do more,” he said.
In his welcome remarks, Dashiell encouraged them to ask questions to get all the information they need during their tour of IITA’s facilities. He also gave an overview of IITA research activities in West Africa.