As a journalist with special interests on good leadership across Africa, particularly; Nigeria, when news broke on the appointment of Mallam Mohammed Abu Ibrahim as the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) in October 2023, the first thing that came to my mind was the foresightedness of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Mr President is, indeed, not leaving any stone unturned at ensuring that Nigerians get the best of his administration, especially in the agriculture sector.
Without a doubt, President Tinubu is assembling the best brains rooted in the unimaginable technocratic spirit who are being greatly utilised to redefine leadership for the good of the populace.
Although, I shouldn’t be the one to blow my own trumpet, but I can boldly say that having been working as a member of the pen profession for more than two decades, one of the best appointments so far made by Mr President is that of Mohammed Abu Ibrahim to pilot the affairs of NADF.
To say Mohammed Ibrahim is ably qualified to serve as the Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of NADF can be said to be an understatement. Yes, I can be very bold to say this because I have been around his biological father for about two decades and can vouch for his competency, managerial acumen, wisdom, humility and detribalised disposition. These traits, to a large extent, will be brought to bear in the turn around of NADF for the benefit of Nigeria and Nigerians at large, particularly and farmers.
I know Mohammed Abu Ibrahim and have keenly studied his character right from when his father and I contested for elective positions during the era of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). I was unlucky to win the primaries for the election of the Benue State House of Assembly then. However, his father, due to his charismatic leadership style and a political juggernaut which people of Katsina state so much admire, recorded a landslide victory and was elected a Distinguished Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, representing Katsina South Senatorial District of Katsina state. He was a senator from 2011-2019 when he humbly stepped down to pave the way for younger politicians.
So, indeed, Mohammed has all the requisite qualities and capacity to steer the affairs of NADF. That’s why I am not at all surprised by the unprecedented landmark achievements he has so far recorded within the last six months of his leadership of NADF. These landmark achievements include the sensitisation programme for rural farmers who lack proper knowledge and information regarding some of the crops they plant especially during the rainy season.
With the ongoing sensitisation whereby agricultural experts from different value chains are invited to sensitise the farmers, especially those in the rural areas, their yearly outputs, unlike in the past where they had no detailed sensitisation, will definitely improve. Another milestone of the NADF boss, which is almost a daily sing song on the lips of Nigerian farmers, is the provision of credit facilities such as loans to the farmers as well as Nigerians who have interest in going into small scale agricultural businesses.
Just as we have the Tertiary Education Fund, TETFund, and the National Education Fund, NELFund, which principal mandate is to provide funds for the upgrade of infrastructure in Nigeria’s higher institutions of learning and providing loan facilities for students of tertiary institutions, NADF is also performing similar functions of providing loans for farmers across the 777 Local government areas of the country with almost zero percent interest unlike what farmers access from commercial banks. Also, NADF executive secretary is working hard to improve staff welfare by making sure they get their monthly salary as and when due as well as other allowances due to them. This gesture will no go a long way to boost morale of the staff of NADF and the effect of it is the tremendous success that NADF has recorded in just within six months of Abu Ibrahim’s leadership of the federal agency.
Lest I forget, let me briefly dwell on the versatile experience and managerial background of Mohammed, especially in the agriculture and financial sectors which he is greatly applying to redefine leadership in NADF. Mohammed Abu Ibrahim, a thorough bred technocrat from a very organised and disciplined background, is the founder of DualMark Nigeria Limited. He was also the chief executive officer of Environmental Management and Developmental Systems Limited.
He is a highly disciplined, well trained and a record breaking entrepreneur with over 17 years experience in successful, productive and great output in business initiatives and nurturing in a very challenging and competitive environment. He is also the founder of Cryogenic Industries Limited, Tri-Dynamic Services. He was executive director, North-South Petroleum Limited, a deep offshore oil block holding company.
Due to space constraint, let me summarise that due to his love for education, Mohammed Ibrahim was appointed few years ago as the board chairman of Inspire Academy, a British Curriculum Primary School with emphasis on special needs in Abuja, Nigeria. He was also a management staff of Maigari Farms, an agricultural company with special interest in crop cultivation and animal husbandry. The Nigerian Agricultural Development Fund helmsman is a Fellow of the Fifth Class of the Africa Leadership Initiatives-West Africa and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
Dr. Sule, a public affairs analyst and an Islamic scholar, writes from Okene, Adavi local government area, Kogi state.
