INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TROPICAL AGRICULTURE ACT

(1)
There shall be established an institute to be called and known as the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (in this Act referred to as "the Institute") to exercise the functions and powers and pursue the objectives assigned to it by this Act.
(2)
The Institute shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal which shall be kept in the custody of the chairman of the board of trustees or of the director if so authorised by the board.

(1) The Institute shall have the general responsibility for undertaking studies of and research into tropical agriculture and of providing information thereon to authorised representatives of governments or to groups or bodies of persons interested in tropical agriculture.
(2) In carrying out the general responsibility assigned to it by subsection (1) of this section, the Institute may pursue all or any of the following objectives-
(a)
to provide in the tropics a high-quality international research organisation devoted to finding ways as quickly as possible to increase the output and improve the quality of tropical food crops;
(b)
to provide, in co-operation with universities and research stations concerned with tropical agriculture, high-level professional training for carefully selected persons who expect to become staff members of institutions and organisations in the tropics concerned with increasing food production and improving its quality and distribution;
(c) to publish and disseminate research findings and recommendations of the Institute;
(d) to distribute improved plant materials to other research centres where they might be of significant value in breeding or improvement programmes;
(e)
to establish, maintain, and operate an information centre and library which will provide for interested scientists and scholars everywhere a collection of the world's literature on tropical agriculture; and
(f)
to organise or hold periodic conferences, forums, and seminars, whether international,regional, local, or otherwise, for the purpose of discussing current problems in the field of tropical agriculture.

The Institute shall have the following incidental powers, that is to say, it may-(a)
obtain from any authority or person, charters and concessions necessary for the attainment of its purposes;
[1974 No.27]
(b) acquire from any person, by way of gift, purchase, exchange or lease whether absolutely or in trust, any property, real or personal, requisite or necessary to carry out the objects of the Institute, with power, subject to any trust, to hold or dispose of any such property;
(c) borrow money, make loans and guarantee loans made by others with the approval of the board without prejudice to any other provision of this Act relating to the provision of funds;
(d) do and perform anything necessary in the opinion of the Institute, to further the purpose and attain the objects of the Institute.

(1) The affairs of the Institute shall be administered by a board of trustees (in this Act referred to as "the board") composed of not less than nine and not more than seventeen members made up as follows, that is to say-
(a)
the Permanent Secretary of the federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development or his representative
[1990 No. 45.]
(b) one member appointed by the President by rotation from amongst the Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian universities having colleges or departments of agriculture;
(c) three members who shall be appointed by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research;
(d) the director for the time being of the Institute;
(e) the director of Agricultural Sciences, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology or his representative; and
(f)
additional members, that is to say members chosen from among the following categories, namely tropical African areas (other than Nigeria), South and South-East Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean and from among eminent specialists in tropical agriculture, the members not exceeding nine in number, being elected from time to time by the board, with the approval of the Government of Nigeria.
(2) Members (other than those serving ex-officio) shall hold office for a term of two years and shall be eligible for re-election for one further term of the like duration; but a member appointed by the President shall not be eligible for re-appointment until three years after the expiration of his term.

(1) The board shall meet at least once in each year and at such other times as may be required for any reason.
(2)
Subject to the provisions of section 27 of the Interpretation Act (which provides for decisions of a statutory body to be taken by a majority of its members and for the chairman to have a second or casting vote), the board may determine its own procedure or that of any committee thereof.
[Cap.123.]
(3) The quorum at a meeting of the board shall be five and the quorum at a meeting of any committee of the board shall be fixed by the board.

(1)
Subject to the provisions of this section, the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations have agreed to finance the Institute in accordance with the provisions as to financing set out in the proposal in the Schedule to this Act.
[Schedule]
(2) However, the Foundations shall at any time during the period covered by the Schedule stated in the Act be empowered to review and revive their intended continuing support; and the Foundations may in their discretion extend financial support of core operations, in whole or in part, for a period to be agreed with the Government, or impose conditions during this same period so as to diminish or curtail financial support as the Foundations think fit.

The Institute may make loans to any of its employees or guarantee any loan made to any such employee by any person-(a) to purchase a motor vehicle required by the employee for the performance of his duty; or
(b) to build a house for the residential use of the employee or of his family, to purchase a plot of land on which a house for the employee may be built or to purchase a house for the residential use of the employee or of his family.

The principal office of the Institute shall be established and maintained in Ibadan.

(1) The Government shall make available on leasehold tenure to the Institute, in accordance with the land requirement provisions of the proposal, a suitable site for the location of the Institute adjacent to the University of Ibadan and such other areas of land as the Government and the Institute may, from time to time, agree to be necessary or desirable for experimental work, field tests, demonstrations and conduct of the Institute's business in parts of Nigeria other than where the principal office of the Institute is located.
(2) Land so made available by the Government shall be held upon such term or terms as may be agreed and upon payment of, in each case, one peppercorn as annual rental (if demanded).

The board shall furnish to the President as soon as may be after the end of each year a
report on the activities of the Institute during that year with sufficient copies for distribution
to interested persons.

(1) All equipment and supplies required for the establishment and operation of the programmes of the institute, including construction materials and supplies, machinery, and furnishings owned and imported by the Institute for the purposes of this Act shall be exempted from duties of customs.
(2) Any other things owned and imported by the Institute shall likewise be so exempted:
Provided that the Government may require the Institute to give to it some indication of the nature and quality of any such thing so imported.
(3) The staff of the Institute shall be entitled to first arrival privileges only.

(1) It is hereby declared that the Institute is an organisation between which and the Government there exists an arrangement for technical assistance, and-
(a) the income of the Institute; and
(b)
the income of any person other than a citizen of Nigeria who is employed in or is engaged by the Institute in a professional capacity,
shall, in so far as and to the extent only that it is derived solely by reason of operations of the Institute in Nigeria. be exempted from liability to income tax.
(2) Income-
(a) of persons on in-service training, fellowship, grants or scholarship; and
(b)
derived by non-Nigerians from other sources outside Nigeria,
shall likewise be exempted from income tax.

Where any person (other than a Nigerian) seeking entry into Nigeria satisfies the immigration authorities that he is to be employed by the Institute or is engaged by it in a professional capacity as adviser, he shall, for the purposes of the Immigration Act, be deemed to have accepted employment with the Government; and the provisions of section 8 of that Act shall be so construed and production of a consent to enter shall be unnecessary.
[Cap. 11.]

No change shall be made in the basic organisation of the Institute save after consultation with the Government and with the prior approval of the Foundations so long as the Foundations continue to provide wholly or to a major extent the funds required to finance the core operations of the Institute.

If the Foundations discontinue financial support for the Institute and the existence of the Institute is thereafter terminated for any reason, all of the physical plant and equipment of the Institute shall become the property of the Government to be used by it for scientific or educational purposes.

In this Act unless the context otherwise requires-
"charters and concessions" include franchises, licences, rights and privileges with or without financial or other assistance;
"core operations" means the functions referred to in section 2 (2) of this Act and includes the cost of maintaining and operating the Institute;
"Foundations" means the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations;
"the Government" means the Federal Government of Nigeria;
"the proposal" means the Proposal for an International Institute of Tropical Agriculture located in Nigeria referred to in the Schedule to this Act and references to sundry provisions of the proposal shall be construed accordingly.

This Act may be cited as the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture Act.