Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank
(AfDB), says Abuja was at its best when Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna
state, was the minister of the federal capital territory (FCT).
Adesina made the comment on Friday at the commemoration and
send-off ceremony organised for Nteranya Sanginga, the outgoing
director-general of the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture
(IITA), held at the IITA Conference Centre, Ibadan.
The AfDB president described el-Rufai as an “amazing
governor” with good leadership qualities.
El-Rufai served as FCT minister from 2003-2007 under the
leadership of ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo.
“You can never be
leading except your know where you’re leading people and governor el-Rufai
knows that very well because you’ve been an amazing governor of Kaduna state.
And also when you were minister, in terms of Abuja, Abuja was at its best,”
Adesina said.
Speaking about the celebrant, Adesina said he is very proud
of the achievements of Sanginga, whom he calls his twin brother.
He expressed confidence that Sanginga would deliver and
transform the IITA, adding that it was on that basis that he nominated him as
DG of the institute in 2011.
Adesina revealed that, though he is an economist, he “wanted
to be a microbiologist” because of the good work done by Sanginga and his team.
“I’ve known Sanginga since 1995 when I was working as an economist
at the IITA. Competence has nothing to do with the colour of your skin or the
grey matter of your hair,” he said.
“Sanginga led IITA to incredible heights of world-class
science. He made IITA the most sought-after international agricultural research
centre in the world.
“I spent 10 years of my career at the CGIAR and I can tell
you without any doubt that Dr Sanginga is the best and the most accomplished DG
in the history of IITA.
“Sanginga came to
Nigeria 41 years ago as a Ph.D. student, Sanginga leaves Nigeria as the
director-general of IITA; Sanginga came to Nigeria as a Congolese, Sanginga
leaves Nigeria as a Nigerian.”
According to Adesina, the effort of the Sanginga-led IITA
team ensured that despite the 2012 flooding disaster in Nigeria, “there was no
famine, there was no hunger”. This was achieved because the institute mobilised
and delivered maize seeds and other grains needed to curb the effects of the
flooding.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com