Opinion: NASC New DG falls short of qualification- Says former SA to the Minister of Agric, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina and Chief Audu Ogbeh.

Last week, the appointment of a new Director General for the National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC) was announced. His name is Fatuhu Muhammed.

The newly appointed DG was elected into the Federal House of Representatives, where he became popular in 2020 as a member of the House Committee on Tertiary Education for proposing the privatisation of Nigeria's public universities in response to ASUU strikes. 

Fatuhu Muhammed, who reportedly attended Federal Government College, Kwali, was one of the beneficiaries of the School of Basic and Remedial Studies (SBRS), reintroduced by the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) in 2003, a programme supported by the northern state governors, raising the issue of educational imbalance in the country and the consequences on national unity and future stability among the elites. In 2005, he became one of the beneficiaries of the reintroduced SBRS. 

After the remedial programme, he was offered admission to study political science at ABU, where he eventually graduated with third-class honors. Honorable Fatuhu Muhammed, who is a nephew to Muhammadu Buhari, is a son of the former President’s oldest brother. He contested the election to the House of Representatives in 2019 as a representative of Daura Sandamu-Mai’Adua Federal Constituency. Upon losing the primaries for his reelection and failing to get a return ticket to the House of Representatives in 2022, he wrote to leave the APC after threatening to destroy the ruling party in his constituency. 

He was reportedly persuaded by the vice president, Kashim Shettima, to return to the party. A paraphrase from his resignation letter, written and addressed to the Sarkin Yara Ward APC chairman in the Daura local government area, reads thus: “This is to notify you that I have resigned my membership from the All Progressives Congress (APC) with immediate effect commencing from Wednesday the 13th day of July 2022. Attached herewith is my Party Membership Registration slip with slip No. KT/DRA/10/00002" It added that: “While I thank you and the Party for the opportunity given to me to serve the interest of the people of Daura-Sandamu-Mai’Adua Federal Constituency while working with the party, accept my best wishes please.” 

The appointment of Fatuhu by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the Council's DG is raising serious concerns as he is not a seed professional and lacks the essential training, qualification, and cognate experience in seed science and technology as provided for in the Act establishing the Council. His appointment as a 'non-professional' into a position that is better suited for an expert is, therefore, an aberration. 

Honourable Fatuhu's recent appointment needs to be reviewed in the interest of food security in Nigeria, especially if the big picture on agriculture and food sufficiency is taken seriously. The Seed Council is the agency statutorily responsible for the regulatory framework to establish food governance and remove quackery from the Nigeria Seed System. Although APC, the ruling political party, has a manifesto that states that the party in power should ensure that farmers "plant the right seed" and "feed the entire nation," the Fatuhu's appointment tends to negate the party's stance in reality. 

It has also breached Part III, Section 6 of the National Seed Council Act of 2019. The same Part III, Section 6 was unambiguous in stating that “the President shall appoint, on the recommendation of the Honourable Minister, a candidate who possesses professional qualification and cognate experience in seed science and technology.”“This requirement is very fundamental to continue to sustain the gains and international recognition of the Nigerian Agricultural Seed System as an African model,” according to an open letter of appeal to Tinubu, signed on behalf of the seed sector by Mr. Olagbaju Akeju, an agricultural engineer, technical consultant and seed processor. The appointment of a nonprofessional will deny the agency of the needed expertise from the top. It will also create difficulties in the appropriate deployment and assignment of specialised staff. 

This will affect the efficiency and output of these professional officers. Since the exit of Dr. Olusegun Ojo, the immediate past DG for over two years, the most senior specialist, who is Dr. Ishiaku Khalid, has successfully held the position of protem head, a testament to the relevance of professional training as a prerequisite for occupying the agency’s top position. Whoever comes in from an outside agricultural background will have to start learning the foundational agricultural theme and rudiments of seed science. 

The appointment of a politician with no background in agriculture, agronomy or anything called genetics or plant breeding for such a tenured agency head position is like appointing someone who is only coming to learn and cannot understand much of the scientific underpinnings for seed policies from that elevated position if he is not bringing the knowledge to the job. It is like bringing a square peg into a triangular hole. Before he can learn enough to make rational decisions, a whole tenure of office would have expired, and the nation would have been the worst for it. All those global seed platforms are expertise-based, not for non-scientists. 

In the interest of the critical stakeholders, such as seed producers, farmers, scientists, extension officers, and consumers, Fatuhu’s appointment needs to be reviewed, and a more competent person appointed instead, especially if the president truly intends to achieve food security. Only a professional can use that position of DG productively for food security. The stakeholders, particularly the scientists, have acknowledged that many new initiatives, which put Nigeria on the world seed map, started during the tenure of Dr. Ojo, the immediate past DG, before the expiration of his tenure, has been consummated by Dr. Khalid who has occupied the position till now in acting capacity as the most senior officer in the agency. To date, such accomplishments include membership in the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), a treaty body with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Nigeria has recently qualified as the 80th registered member. With this, Nigerian seed breeders can now have protection for their plant varieties. Nigeria has also recently qualified as a member of the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA), effectively placing Nigeria conspicuously on the global seed map. 

The Sheda Seed Laboratory in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is now ISTA accredited and is now positioned to do seed testing for the country and other countries in Africa. The certification and membership of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is a big boost to the Nigerian seed industry and the agricultural sector, opening up African and global markets. OECD certification has given Nigeria two mandate crops, namely sorghum and maize. 

Whoever is appointed as the DG of NASC needs to work with knowledgeable seniors on a day-to-day basis. The knowledge application will affect research work, seed business, and food production in the downstream sector of agriculture, including the formal — the seed companies — and the informal, which are essentially the farmers as primary producers. Seed companies spend 15 to 30 percent of their annual revenues on research and development (R&D). That is why they protect their varieties. National security rests squarely on food and nutrition security, which cannot be accomplished without seed security. 

Achieving seed security requires R&D, which also requires the seed companies as private investors planting certified seeds. This is not a common or ordinary affair. Besides, seeds are not just ordinary seeds; they are influential policy issues. They are diplomatic commodities. Funds for the Seed Council have generally fallen short of its requirements. As an agency under a ministry of the federal government, the percentage of budgetary allocations going to NASC has traditionally and historically been dismal and infinitesimally low, hovering around just one percent for an agency expected to perform so much. 

How a non-specialist intends to fill a human resources vacuum that is likely to be created between 2025 and 2026 calls for good discretion. No fewer than 40 middle level officers and senior officers are set to retire in accordance with civil service rules, a situation that will leave a wide gap and an expertise vacuum that may not be easily filled, except some are retained for a little longer on contract basis, otherwise, all the expert knowledge gained over the years by NASC will be lost to the agency without replacement. It is important to surmise that the president could have been misled by advisors, a decision that could easily be reversed and filled with a replacement if the president truly gets to know what the right thing to do and does it.

Dr. Olukayode Oyeleye was a former Senior Adviser to the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, and Chief Audu Ogbeh. A graduate of veterinary medicine from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.