Audu Ogbeh: Minister of agriculture

By Funso Balogun

The job of revamping Nigeria’s agricultural  sector towards becoming more viable, to serve as the alternative to oil as the main source of revenue generation will no doubt require all the effort that the Nigerian agriculture  minister, Audu Ogbeh, can muster.

But the task might end up being even more herculean for the minister who contends with certain administrative problems presently stalling progress in the ministry.

As TheNEWS exclusively gathered, the ministry has been weighed down by certain unhealthy developments which the minister has tried to address , albeit unsuccessfully. The crux of the trouble in the ministry is the prevalent arbitrary postings and transfer of officers overseeing the affairs of some departments.

Stakeholders in the agricultural sector have also grown more strident lately concerning what has been termed the arbitrariness and misconduct of Executive Directors and other persons in the agricultural institutes in dealing with administrative issues without regard to due process.

Through correspondence with the permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Shehu Ahmed, Ogbeh recently expressed his displeasure concerning the improper management of donor support funds and projects.

The minister made reference to a series of questionable events which took place in the Veterinary Research Institute of Nigeria, Vom, Plateau State, from 2013 till now, culminating in the arrest detention and suspension, for two and a half years of of one Dr. Okwori and Mallam Nasir Mohammed Ambursa. Ogbeh noted that till now, there is no evidence that the ministry was involved in the administrative processes that would have ensured that the right decisions were taken on this case.

Unfortunately, these affected officers are still being punished with the due process required to handle such matters shoved aside.

Ogbeh also mentioned another situation in the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria, CRIN where an executive director returned the salaries of 51 officers and then went ahead to sack another 90 without following the due process.

The unpleasant developments did not end there. There is another case concerning the West African Agricultural Productivity Programme, WAAPP, where a newly retired individual from the public service was deemed the appropriate replacement for the national project coordinator. A certain Mr. Awosiki, who was managing the ATAPS I project which began in January this year has also been removed and replaced.

On 10 February 2016, the minister received an SOS letter from the Animal Science Association of Nigeria, ASAN, the registered body of animal scientists in Nigeria. The association’s grouse which is about a perceived unjustifiable and irregular posting of a top civil servant to replace a director in a different department was another testament to the minister’s concerns about anomalies in the ministry’s administrative processes.

ASAN drew the attention of the minister to the case of the first animal scientist to ever attain the post of a Director in the 50 years history of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Dr. A. M. Raji, who was the Director of the Federal Department of Animal Production and Husbandry services, was removed and replaced with a Veterinary doctor, Dr. Mrs. Egejuru Eze who belongs to a different service cadre (Veterinary Officer) in the ministry. The body of animal scientists pointed out that the move smacked of an attempt to revive an over 40-year old industrial friction that led to the split of the defunct Federal Department of Livestock and Pest Control Services, FDLPCS into two.

The animal scientists maintain that the removal of Raji would be counterproductive since animal science is completely different from veterinary medicine by practice.

Agricultural sector stakeholders and concerned elements within and outside the ministry who are aware of the prospects inherent in focusing on animal production for the gains the economy is being starved of are worried about the pervading ill feelings within the ministry courtesy of Raji’s removal.

Meanwhile, the fear of the minister and other stakeholders within and outside the ministry is now premised on the realisation that such anomalies have been sending wrong signals to donor partners who are on the verge of turning off the taps of funding.

‘’ These developments are giving rise to suspicion and a general feeling of instability and inability on the part of the ministry and its agencies to ensure sustainable management of its affairs, and the overall impact of all these arbitrary movements is that donor partners are becoming jittery and uncomfortable and even suspicious of the motives of these changes “ Ogbeh said.

The minister, who considers these developments as an embarrassment has decided to wield the big stick by ordering the permanent secretary, Shehu Ahmed, to make amends. Ogbeh stated, in a letter to this effect that has landed on the permanent secretary’s desk, that all unapproved postings and deployments from 1 January 2016 till date concerning all support funds and projects in both the ministry and its parastatals and agencies should be promptly reversed, and officers moved within this period returned to their previous posts.

The minister has also declared that the ministry and heads of parastatals and agencies under it must seek his approval henceforth concerning staff deployments, redeployments or postings, that are related to the management of donor support funds and projects.

However, while the minister’s directive is still standing, along with the threat that errant public officers who dare to go against it will be disciplined, no action has been taken yet to reinstate those removed from their posts. Insinuations are rife that the Permanent Secretary’s refusal to carry out the minister’s order could be because he is an untouchable, close to people high up in Aso Rock.