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Ganduje, el-Rufai, Emefiele Win At 2015 Agriculture Awards

By Fabian Odum
29 November 2015   |   4:07 am
The 2015 Nigerian Agricultural Awards (NAA), organised by AGRONIGERIA magazine have revealed individuals and corporate entities that had made remarkable contributions to the agricultural sector.
El-Rufai

El-Rufai

The 2015 Nigerian Agricultural Awards (NAA), organised by AGRONIGERIA magazine have revealed individuals and corporate entities that had made remarkable contributions to the agricultural sector.

Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, Governor, Kano State was awarded the Farmer-Governor of the year 2015 for his contributions to the agricultural sector, as evidenced by his swift response to the Tuta Absoluta scourge, which threatened to wipe out Nigeria’s tomato crop. Honoured as Pillars Of Agriculture are Governors Mallam Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai of Kaduna State, Alhaji Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State and Sen. Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State. Others in this category are Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, former Permanent Secreary, FMARD, now Federal Ministry of Communication, Arc. Sonny Echono and National Project Coordinator, Rural Finance Building Programme (RUFIN), Alhaji Musibau Azeez.

In a ceremony on Wednesday, at the Landmark Centre in Lagos, helmsman at the magazine, Barr. Richard-Mark Mbaram, said the sector would not have made outstanding strides in the past year without the inputs of these individuals and corporate bodies.

In the corporate category, Achiever In Agriculture are Popular Farms Ltd, for maintaining the largest rice processing business in Nigeria; Best Foods Global Ltd. for its investment foresight in establishing a proficient cold chain storage company; Dansa Agro-Allied Ltd for massive investment in Tomato processing, with the transformation of Nigeria’s tomato Value-Chain and Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc for maintaining Nigeria’s most impressive palm plantation business.

Kano State Governor, Ganduje

Kano State Governor, Ganduje

Others include Presco Nig. Plc for its outstanding Palm Refinery business, and Teragro Nig. Ltd for its adventurous indigenisation of Citrus Pulp Extract production, which used to be exclusively imported hitherto.

Individual category include Dr. Martins Fregene (contribution to the cassava revolution), Dr. Muyiwa Osiname (over 3-decade contribution towards rice production in Africa), Dr Niyi Odunlami (SCPZ), Dr. Tony Bello (Agribusiness) and contributions towards private-public partnerships, which have resulted in the formation of the Nigeria Agribusiness Group, and Ada Osakwe (Investment).

Others are Dr. Ahmed Adekunle (Mechanization), Bolaji Akinboro (GES), Prof. Sule Ochai (Policy), Mr. Mezuo Nwunelli – Fund for Agricultural Finance in Nigeria (FAFIN), Mr. Akin Sawyerr (AFGEAN), Mr. Richard Ogundele (GHP-GEMS4), Mr. Richard Hargrave (Investment), Mr. Samuel Samuel (Origin –Agric processing), Dr. Nteranya Sangiga (DG, IITA), Mr. Kolawole Adeniji (Investment), Mr. Kola Masha (Babban Gona Initiative), Comrade David Ehindero (the Agric Academy) and Mrs. Vero Igbe (Fisheries).

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