Stakeholders Urge Tinubu To Appoint Technocrats To Oversee Agriculture Ministry

Stakeholders in the agric sector have urged President Bola Tinubu to appoint a competent technocrat to oversee the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The stakeholders included Professor Olufemi Ajayi, a former Deputy Director, Teaching and Research Farm, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and Dr Femi Oke, Chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Lagos chapter and South-West zone.
They said in separate interviews on Tuesday in Lagos that the ministry needed a technocrat rather than a politician.
According to Ajayi, if the new administration wants to get things right in agriculture, the president must appoint someone who understands the policy, the terrain, the production and other activities within the sector.
The don said that the country needed the calibre of people like a former Minister of Agriculture, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, who is now the President of African Development Bank (AfDB), to occupy the position.
“I have been in a leading team of teaching and research farm and I know what obtains when it comes to agriculture in Nigeria, more so, as a professor of agriculture.
“As per the appointment of the minister of agriculture, I will like to advise that that is one office that needs a technocrat.
“The office should not be occupied by just anybody or for reason of appointment or politics. It should be more of a technocrat.
“I want to go back into history a bit. We all remember Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, now the President, Africa Development Bank (AfDB), when he was the minister of agriculture in Nigeria in early 2010.
“During his tenure, agriculture breathed a sigh of relief and that was because he is technocrat that knows the in and out of agriculture when he was in office.
“After then, every of the programme that was put in place could not be sustained because it was not continuous; technocrats were not appointed to replace technocrats in that office.
“If we are going to get anything right in agriculture in this dispensation, it will be nice to have a technocrat who will understand the policy, the terrain, the production and every activity that surrounds agriculture,” Ajayi said.
Also, Oke urged the president to appoint a technocrat with track record who would be able to address the nation’s increasing food challenges.
He noted that successive administrations did not appoint core agriculturists to occupy the office, adding farmers and the country in general gained little or nothing during those periods.
The AFAN chairman said that presently, the country was confronted by a myriad of problems, including shortage of food supply, high food prices, insecurity, low production and many more.
“What we want, as a body of the farmers’ association, is that the right peg should be put in the right hole.
“The minister of agriculture, this time around, should be a core farmer or agriculturist with track records; someone who knows and practice agriculture.
“We want an agriculturist or a farmer to be appointed into the office of the minister of agriculture so that it will ease our problems.
“If the person is part of us as a stakeholder in the sector and knows what the sector needs, it will make a huge impact.
“In the past, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina was appointed by President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration and ever since, we have not been able to see someone like that occupying the office.
“Adesina was able to perform excellently well because he knew and understood agriculture and that is why we want an agriculturist or a farmer in that position now,” he said.
Oke urged the president not to politicise the appointment of ministers, as done by past administrations.
Rather, he said that Tinubu should appoint people who would support his government with good policies as well as intervention and empowerment programmes for farmers.
“We don’t want the office to be politicised. We want government to appoint an expert who understands the challenges currently facing the sector and can proffer lasting solutions.
He said through country needed someone who understands agriculture in its entirety, because of the myriad of problems confronting the sector.

NAN/Lateefah Ibrahim