{"id":13299,"date":"2026-06-20T12:27:05","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/us-ambassador-pledges-to-spread-the-iya-gospel\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T21:39:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T21:39:35","slug":"us-ambassador-pledges-to-spread-the-iya-gospel","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/us-ambassador-pledges-to-spread-the-iya-gospel\/","title":{"rendered":"US Ambassador pledges to spread the IYA \u201cgospel\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The US Ambassador to Nigeria, W. Stuart Symington, impressed by the <a title=\"Visit the IITA Youth Agripreneurs website\" href=\"http:\/\/youthagripreneurs.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jeunes agripreneurs de l'IITA<\/a> (IYA) program, has said that he is convinced  and compelled to share the \u201cFarming is cool\u201d gospel of IYA with the rest of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><figure id=\"attachment_13338\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13338\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/1024_DSC_6528_260617.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13338\" src=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1024_DSC_6528_260617-300x214-1.jpg\" alt=\"Picture of H.E Ambassador Symington (center) gives thumbs up sign to IITA to the excitement of DG Sanginga (left)  and DDG Dashiell (right).\" width=\"300\" height=\"214\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-13338\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">H.E Ambassador Symington (center) gives thumbs up sign to IITA to the excitement of DG Sanginga (left)  and DDG Dashiell (right).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Ambassador  and his team from the consulate office were at IITA on 19 June to see  and underst and the impact of the Institute\u2019s research  and technology in the development of Africa\u2019s agriculture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI will join in telling your stories to the world. They are worth sharing,  and I will do so to prospective investors. IITA has finally provided an answer to the lingering question of how to make agriculture cool  and attractive for people to embrace as a business,\u201d Ambassador Symington stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He congratulated <a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/iita-staff\/sanginga-nteranya\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nteranya Sanginga<\/a>, IITA\u2019s Director General, for the dynamism in the Institute\u2019s strategy of attracting young graduates into agriculture. He however advised the youth beneficiaries to be innovative  and develop ideas that will enable Africa to feed itself.<br><blockquote>\u201cI want you, for the rest of your lives, to think of how you will feed not yourself alone but how you will outscale this  and extend the benefit of what you have learned within the premises of this institution to others who do not have the opportunity of being here. Always think of growing Nigeria because you are the greatest gift Nigeria has  and if you move with your ideas, the world will feel you move. That for me means development for Africa,\u201d the Ambassador said.<\/blockquote><br>He also enjoined government to support innovations that will change the narrative of the agricultural sector.<br><blockquote>\u201cIt is not for government to help but for government not to be in the way. I want you to think of how you can approach a farmer who makes $40 in a year  and convince him that he can triple the amount in a year. I know you can do this because you have the training, skills, experience of doing things differently by using the right technology, seeds,  and practices,\u201d he added.<\/blockquote><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">DG Sanginga, senior staff  and members of IYA, welcomed the guests to Ibadan  and conducted them on a tour around some of the enterprises of the youth.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The US Ambassador to Nigeria, W. Stuart Symington, impressed by the IITA Youth Agripreneurs (IYA) program, has said that he is convinced and compelled to share the \u201cFarming is cool\u201d gospel of IYA with the rest of the world.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":13300,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"tags":[221],"science-area":[],"program":[],"location":[32],"news-type":[],"hub":[],"crop":[],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[195],"class_list":["post-13299","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-youthyouth-agripreneurs","location-nigeria","item-year-195"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US Ambassador pledges to spread the IYA \u201cgospel\u201d - IITA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/us-ambassador-pledges-to-spread-the-iya-gospel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US Ambassador pledges to spread the IYA \u201cgospel\u201d - IITA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The US Ambassador to Nigeria, W. 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