When
President Goodluck Jonathan appointed Dr Akinwumi Adesina as the
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, about four years ago, it
was for the sole aim of revitalizing the agricultural sector such that
it would become the major source of income for the country after oil.
Four years on, there are signs of progress in the agricultural sector.
The indefatigable minister has not only turned around the sector to become the major source of income for the country after oil.
As
an agricultural development expert with 24 years of experience in
developing and managing successful agricultural programmes across
Africa, Adesina worked so hard to strengthen the nation’s agricultural
economy, build vibrant rural communities and create new markets for the
tremendous innovation of rural Nigeria. In the past four years, he
functioned as the minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in the
country, Adesina has worked to implement President Goodluck Jonathan’s
agenda for the sector.
Before his appointment, the nation’s
agricultural sector was recording low performance at all levels.
Agriculture in Nigeria accounted for 65-70 per cent of total exports in
the 1960s; it fell to about 40 per cent in the 1970s and crashed to less
than two per cent in the late 1990s and late 2000. The sector, however,
bounced back after Adesina was appointed the minister of agriculture
few years ago. Till date, the non-oil sector has remained the major
driver of growth recording a 7.50 per cent increase in contrast to the
oil sector, which contracted by 0.73 per cent in the second quarter of
2012.
Apart from revolutionizing the agriculture sector during
his four year tenure, Adesina ensured that agriculture remains the new
mainstay of the nation’s economy. His recent disbursement of N122million
grant to 27 Nagropreneurs across the six geo-political zones as a
measure of boosting agricultural production and also promoting its newly
established project, the Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme
(YEAP) endeared to Nigerians at the grassroots. For Adesina, Nigeria’s
greater future for inclusive growth lies in agriculture. This, he has
demonstrated not only in words but also, in action as the various
programmes he set up to instigate real growth in the sector are pointers
to this claim. Today, food production had risen massively and as a
nation, Nigeria has produced additional 21 metric tons of food within
the last three years.
Under Adesina’s administration, the
ministry also established Marketing Corporation, nationwide census of
farmers and supply of subsidised fertilisers to 14 million farmers. In
addition, Adesina ‘s innovative and effective electronic wallet system
for Nigeria’s farmers, designed to increase access to and affordability
of agricultural inputs is still being talked about till date across the
country. His wealth of experience, achievement and bold reforms in
Nigeria’s agriculture sector earned the Minister his selection as Forbes
Africa Person of the Year in 2013.
It was not surprising,
however, when he was recently awarded an Extraordinary Achievement Award
by Silverbird Television. An award, many believed was well-deserved.
Adesina, who was formerly the Vice President, Policy and Partnerships
Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), does not see himself as
an extra-ordinary person. He told his story at the awards, revealing how
President Jonathan appointed him minister without knowing him or
meeting him. The President only heard about him, read about his profile
and invited him to serve as minister. So, the man acclaimed to be the
best minister in Jonathan’s administration is not a politician but a
technocrat, some credit to the President.
“I just happened to be a
public servant that was given the opportunity to serve my country which
is an extra-ordinary country,”he said, while receiving his award.
He
was one of Nigeria’s greatest exports to the outside world, who was
relatively unknown back home until the Jonathan-led administration found
him and consequently brought him back to serve the country.
According
to him, “Obviously, you cannot serve unless somebody calls you to come
and serve. I want to thank His Excellency, Goodluck Jonathan for his
extra-ordinary gesture in actually asking me to leave my international
career and come back home to serve my country. I never knew him and I
never met him.”
“He simply heard about me and he brought me home
to come and serve my fatherland. There are other people that played an
important role in bringing me back to the country to serve my beloved
country; former President Olusegun Obasanjo. But having arrived the
country, I couldn’t have achieved anything without the extra-ordinary
support I received from Nigerians. I am quite delighted that we have
been able to reposition this sector well ahead of time before we got
into the declining economic crisis that we are facing today.”
Adeshina
also talked about his background which he said was a humble one. And
since he hit the international limelight he has dedicated his life to
helping the poor people around the world.
“Many of you may not
know that I came from a poor background. I attended a village school. My
dad, and grandfather worked as labourers in other people’s farms. My
dad could not read and write until he was 15 years when an uncle of his
took him to Lagos, where he went to Igbobi College and later, got a job
as a civil servant. That was how I got educated, otherwise I wouldn’t be
getting this award if I wasn’t standing on the shoulder of my father
who sacrificed so much for me.”
“I have always dedicated my life
to helping the poor people around the world because poverty must not
become something we are comfortable with. This is because I have
followed the path, and I know that there is no comfort in poverty at
all. I want to thank the fathers of Nigeria for their tremendous work. I
want to thank the private sector that helped us to mobilized
$5.6billion to this sector within three and half years. The federal
government supported all the state governors in realizing our mission to
make food like the democratic right of every citizen of this country.
We are not going to play politics with it. And Mr. President asked us to
go in that direction.”
As this administration prepares to hand
over to the incoming one on May 29, one thing that it will be remembered
for, is its ability not only to revolutionized the agricultural sector
but also, restore the dignity of Nigerian farmers, bringing them to the
limelight and to the attention of government, where previously it had
been a master-servant relationship
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