Staff of the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN) under the aegis of the Joint Union Action Committee have commended the newly appointed Director General, Dr. Zachariah B. Yaduma, for his exemplary and inventive leadership, which has effectively encouraged and motivated the institute’s staff.
This was disclosed in a statement delivered by the Chairman of the Joint Action Committee, Comrade Isaac J. Maisamari, on Saturday, May 20, 2023.
The statement reads, “You would recall that on April 1st 2023, Dr Zachariah B. Yaduma was appointed and two days after, he assumed office as the second Director General of Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN), after the pioneer DG, Professor Adeshola Adepoju.
“For the records, Dr Zachariah B Yaduma is an Associate Professor of Ecosystem Management (Wildlife Conservation and Management). For his education, he obtained a National Diploma (ND) in Forestry, at the Federal College of Forestry, Ibadan, in 1985.
“There is no question that the new Director General is an eminently qualified Academic and Researcher with many years of experience both in the academia and ministry. He is level-headed, unassuming, God-fearing and a detribalized visionary.
“He worked in the Ministry of Agriculture, Yola, from 1991 to 2004, Asmau Farms Nigeria LTD, 2004 to 2009, then Ministry of Environment, Yola, from 2009 to 2014, and afterwards he transferred his services to Modibo Adama University of Technology, MAUTech, Yola, where he was imparting knowledge to both undergraduate and post graduate students at all levels and impacting lives, until his appointment as Director General on 1st April, 2023. No doubt, this man is a round peg in a round hole.
“It may interest you to know that in his less than 2 months in office, he has since toured round most of the Colleges and outstations of the institute and wherever he went, he gave hope to the staff who chanted “Light has come” in his support.
“From every indication, Associate Professor Yaduma is a man with the vision that FRIN needs dearly at this point in her history. For instance, when he visited Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, the kind of radiant faces that resonated that day moved many to tears of joy.”
“At this juncture, we urge Mr President and the Honourable Minister of Environment to ignore all calls against the newly appointed Director General.
“His appointment will be fondly remembered for decades to come by staff of FRIN as the best gift of the Buhari-administration to us. We likewise enjoin the Leadership of the National Assembly (both Senate and the people’s parliament, the House of Representatives) to dismiss all calls against his appointment.
“We extend the same appeal to the incoming administration and the 10th National Assembly. We can now breathe, please do not take the oxygen away.
“Fellow staff of FRIN, for too long we cried for a day on which we would have a Director General who has our welfare at heart, both for those alive and those who die in service – since everyone must one day honour the appointment with death, and today God has answered our prayers by sending Associate Professor Zachariah B Yaduma, whose three key concerns are WELFARE, WELFARE, and WELFARE.
“Unless our prayers in the past were hypocritical and dishonest, what we need do now is to unite and give the new Director General a chance, then back our support with both prayers and useful counsel for him to succeed. If he succeeds, we succeed.
“If, however, we focus on the minor issues and pull him down, his failure will be upon us. There is no success without unity, unity is strength, division is weakness. Remember, according to J.K. Rowling, “We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.”
