Akinwumi Adesina: How I met President Jonathan

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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.

Akinwumi

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.