Cabinet Reshuffle: Nanono Speaks On His Removal As Agric Minister

The recently sacked Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohammed Nanono, has revealed how difficult it was to direct the ministry.

Nanono while stating his reason for facing challenges in the ministry said his background in the private sector affected his productivity.

The former cabinet member who was removed by President Muhammadu Buhari alongside the former minister of power, Mamman Sale, stated this during the handover of the ministry to the new minister, Dr Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar.

He said, “For me, it’s not been easy. Having a stint in the private sector, probably the way and manner you do things in the public sector, you will get some kind of clashes here and there. But overall, we came to understand each other.

“We have a huge responsibility in this ministry and everybody is looking up to this ministry. A small increase in food price, it’s a ministry of agriculture, flood, it’s a ministry of agriculture and everything that you can think of, it’s a ministry of agriculture. Well, we accept that responsibility but I hope one day, the ministry of agriculture will speak with one voice.

“Frankly, some of the people who introduced themselves here, I have never seen them by the sheer size of the ministry, but we have all contributed to the development of this ministry.”

Nanono further stated that he was appointed minister when the country was faced with challenges associated with Covid-19.

The former minister listed embarking on a mechanisation program, the introduction of the National Livestock and getting the president to approve the sum of N600 billion for the Smallholder farmers as part of his achievements.

He noted that President Buhari approved the price of N3000 per bag of fertilizer for smallholder farmers stressing that “I hope the money is released so that farmers can get it.”

On his part, the new minister in his statement vowed to develop the livestock sector, which has been having issues and the resulting clashes between crop farmers and the herdsmen.

He added that another area will be to strengthen the extension service delivery system to create the necessary linkage between farmers and innovations.

The third area he mentioned was to support research institutions to be relevant in developing their mandate crops.