IITA50-LookingBack: The Nigerian Government’s role in the establishment of IITA
IITA’s 1000-hectare land was actually a donation of the Nigerian government, with an annual rental fee of one peppercorn (if demanded). The government also agreed to compensate the approximately 3,000 people living on the site; they resettled them in a new village they called Ibadan Parapo, (now more popularly known as Shasha).
Gen. Yakubu Gowon, Head of State, 1966-1975.
The government also provided IITA with an 80-ha site in Onne when the institute needed a high-rainfall station in an acid-soil area. And during the oil boom in the country, the government became the first among host countries to participate in the funding of these international agricultural research centers, pledging $800,000 annually to the CGIAR system. The government also granted special legal status to IITA in Decree no. 32, giving it several privileges that have been consistently honored.
