Orders zonal offices to take inventory

By Gabriel Ewepu – Abuja

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Muhammad Nanono, Tuesday, lamented under-utilised and unaccounted agricultural assets across the country.

Nanono made this known at a meeting on monitoring and evaluation of 2019 projects in the sector in Abuja, where he directed all state and zonal coordinators to take inventory of agricultural assets in order to document accurate numbers, conditions, and locations of the assets.

According to him, the assets include lands, buildings equipment, and others that are yet to be unaccounted for after many years they were deployed and described the situation as a misnomer.

He said: “This interactive meeting is apt as it provides an opportunity to take stock of the progress made in the implementation of the 2019 priority projects. This is to enable us strategise as we commence the implementation of 2020 capital projects.

READ ALSO: Nanono laments Nigeria not organised, focused in agriculture

“Encumbrances to effective monitoring and evaluation of projects and programmes is a challenge that must be surmounted if we must attain the mandate assigned to us.

“We have enormous unutilised assets and they are so many that we do not even know where they are. We have land and buildings everywhere in this country.

“All zonal coordinators, please document our assets across the country. It is very important to know where they are and we want to know the status of these assets, and leaving them like that is a misnomer.

The Minister also tasked participants at the meeting on possible solutions on a strategic paper that would in order to enable the Ministry to carry out proper and meticulous project monitoring and evaluation.

He also maintained that the Federal Government is currently working to reposition the ministry and sector for better performance as it has begun implementing policies and programmes  to ensure that critical areas of the sector were catered for.

READ ALSO: Nigeria will add rice to export commodities in 2 years — Nanono

He pointed out some areas the Buhari-led administration is currently focused on including mechanisation, extension service, and livestock.

Also speaking was the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr. Abdulkadir Mu’azu, stressed the need for collaboration and synergy between the Ministry’s headquarters and its zonal and state offices in the country alongside other relevant stakeholders in achieving maximally in project implementation.

Mu’azu tasked departments and units in the Ministry to align their activities with the agriculture-specific 2019 to 2023 priority projects, programmes, and deliverables.

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