Honourable Mohammed Tahir Monguno is an unusual leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC). The Chair of the House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture committed a sacrilegious act on an AIT live programme (launching of the N14 billion dry season farming Fund by President Goodluck Jonathan) wherein he commended the giant stride the president has made in revolutionizing the agriculture sector.
Read, in part, what Monguno said on the occasion: “Mr. President, at the risk of being cited for anti-party activities
because I’m of the APC stock, I must say that the agricultural transformation agenda being pursued by your administration is unparalleled and unprecedented. We must learn to give credit where credit is due and I’m exactly doing that.
“As a parliament that is responsible and responsive to the yearnings of the people, that has the mandate to be in the legislature and having listened to the testimonials of the stakeholders that are on ground, we, as a legislature, have decided to proactively introduce a bill to the floor of the house with a view to making the Growth Enhancement Scheme a law so that it will stand the test of time. So that it will bind subsequent administrations and sessions.
“The major problem we have in this country is that of policy somersault by successive administrations. Once the Growth Enhancement Scheme becomes law, it will be to the benefit of all Nigerians and as a House, we have decided to do that. I don’t need to repeat the various achievements of the Growth Enhancement Scheme. It has been clearly stated out by all the stakeholders that have so far testified before me….”
Hardly would you see an APC member these days commending the Jonathan administration even when it is deserving of such commendation. Monguno shattered the fixation and moved up a notch to assume the platform of an objectivity and fair-mindedness by giving credit where it was deserved.
His verdict: Jonathan has dwarfed his predecessors in the development of the agricultural sector in the country. The audience applauded; even the angels clapped for Monguno.
But, indeed, agriculture is just one of the many success stories of the present administration. The Forbes international magazine award of the African Person of the Year 2013 to the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, was a clear testimony that the Jonathan administration, despite the avalanche of challenges facing governance, has been able to make agriculture more lucrative and attractive to our youths who hitherto detested farming.
The sector has been progressively competing with the oil sector to raise the foreign revenue of the country. For instance, the current administration has been able to achieve massive exportation of cassava pellets to other countries and it has helped to boost the nation’s economy.
Before now, it was a mark of poverty to patronize locally produced rice in our country due to poor finishing. But current statics have shown that rice production in the country has improved, but the naysayers would simply not acknowledge it. Now, locally-made rice is sought after by the highly-placed in the society because of the improvement in its production.
The famous Ofada rice is no more a scarce commodity as the administration has encouraged the local producers of this specie of rice with fund that it is now at the beck and call of those looking for it for its nutritional values.
As the success story is being told in the area of rice production, those in the cashew nut production are also counting their gains. Cashew production has been a source of jobs creation for teeming Nigerian youths.
It is against the backdrop of these developments that Monguno’s commendation should be appreciated. Besides, the N14 billion gesture was something that had never been done before now by any governments. The money would, no doubt, go a long way in making sure that there is steady supply of food to all Nigerians round the year, whether or not there is rainfall.
Monguno was impressed by the administration’s determination to make sure that distribution of fertilizers to farmers is not subjected to a rigorous process like before when one man would collect all the allocation for one state and in turn sell the same to farmers that were supposed to collect the product free of charge. As a farmer you could walk into your local council area office and collect your own allocation of the fertilizer without dropping any name.
Agriculture has progressively been a source of employment to our teeming graduates who have been in search of job for decades, and they are being attracted to agriculture because the government of the day has made agriculture attractive through various policies.
The like of APC’s Monguno should be emulated if we want to move forward as a country. Governments, regardless of political affiliations, should be commended when they are doing well and they should be denigrated when they have not done well. The predilection by the APC to jump on every opportunity to harangue the Jonathan administration when the administration has seemingly performed below average and look the other way when it has made a giant stride is childish opposition and malicious bellyaching. It should borrow a leaf from its member-Hon. Monguno, who indeed, is honourable in name and indeed!
Josephine Babatunde wrote in from Lagos.
