The lingering spate of Corruption in all sectors of the Nigeria has been identified as the bane of socio-economic and National development in the country. The Vice-Chancellor, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Prof. Oyewole Bamidele and a Professor of Agricultural Economics, Prof. Caroln Afolami, who stated‎ this at the 47th Inaugural Lecture of the institution, stressed that all hands must be on the deck to stamp out corruption with utmost dedication. ‎The prevalence of corruption in all sectors of the economy has been identified as one of the major barricades towards national development in Nigeria. The Vice-Chancellor, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Prof. Bamidele Oyewole and a Professor of Agricultural Economics, Professor Caroyn Afolami, who stated this during the 47th Inaugural Lecture of the institution titled, “Multi-Dimensional Poverty Alleviation in Nigeria and National Development" maintained that corruption remained a major impediment to national development in the country. Professor Oyewole, in his address at the event stated that ‎one of the barricades that Nigerians, irrespective of their political and religious affiliation, need to remove to ensure National development was corruption adding that, corruption is being widely celebrated in the country. He added that Nigerians have so much elevated ‎corruption to the status of a national culture as people praise and eulogize leaders with corrupt tendencies and condemned those who are not. The University Don maintained that for Nigeria to progress and achieve the desired socio-economic development, all hands must be on the deck in the fight against corruption adding that, Nigerians must be ready to confront leaders with corrupt tendencies. Prof. Oyewole called for a return to sanity, in both personal and corporate operations in the country saying Nigerians, both leaders and followers, must promote values of honesty, integrity and truth for national development to be attained. Delivering the inaugural lecture, Prof. Carolyn Afolami, a Professor of Agricultural Economics, from the ‎Department of Agricultural and Farm Management said, despite efforts being made at the national and international levels to eradicate poverty and hunger as part of the Millenium Development Goals adopted in 2000, about 1.2 people in the world, out of which 68 per cent are Nigerians, still live in extreme poverty. Prof. Afolami stated that poverty situation in Nigeria was quite disturbing as exemplified in the recent recruitment exercise of March 15, 2014 of the Nigeria Immigration Service, where some people lost their lives noting that, all hands must be on the deck to address this situation. The Inaugural Lecturer attributed the increasing rate of poverty and hunger ‎in the land to growth, being concentrated on sectors that are less labour intensive such as oil, telecommunication and banking stressing that, the development of Agriculture, the biggest employer of labour has been greatly ignored. ‎She appealed to Government and people of Nigeria not to be decieved by the recent report of the rebasing of the country's Gross Domestic Product stressing that, it should not be seen as the basis for celebrations it giave wrong view on the poverty status of most Nigerians. On Corruption, Prof. Afolami appealed to government at all levels to back up the fight against corruption with much political will and ensure that stiff penalty was put in place for offenders. The Inaugural Lecturer added that government should desist from increasing retirement age in the civil and public service ‎in order to stem youths unemployment and stop mortgaging the future of the youth. ‎She suggested that for Nigeria to be free from the grip of poverty, government need to focus on development of her agriculture and simultaneously promote industrialization through devising correct policies, particularly those that would make agriculture attractive to the teeming youths.