By Chinyere Anyanwu, [email protected]
The appointment of Muhammad Abu Ibrahim, as the Executive Secretary, National Agriculture Development Fund (NADF), has been commended by stakeholders in the Agriculture sector of the country.
Ibrahim Maigari Ahmad, the Founder/CEO of RiceAfrika.com, a tech-driven agriculture optimisation service provider with operations in Nigeria and Tanzania (and about to expand to Rwanda and Ghana), who made the commendation recently said the appointment was putting a round peg in a round hole.
He said, “this is one appointment by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, that has gotten me excited beyond measure because of the quality, experience and passion for the development of agriculture in Nigeria of the person appointed.”
According to him, “Muhammad has been my business partner for over 20 years. We co-founded many businesses together and I have witnessed his leadership style, dedication, humility and drive to make an impact from a very close corner.
“A trained accountant, with a sound financial mind, a prudent manager of resources and a serial entrepreneur, Muhammad has pioneered many innovations in many industries and is on the board of many companies in fintech, health, education, logistics and agriculture.”
Ahmad said that, “as a leading stakeholder in the agricultural sector in Nigeria, I can confidently state that Muhammad is one of the few Nigerians today who can boldly claim to be a pioneer in mainstreaming the agricultural space through technology.
“He co-founded and was CFO of Sponge Analytics (a data analytics company); partnered with MTN Nigeria to develop Animal Identification and Management Solutions (MTN AIMS), the first of the kind in Africa, that was meant to solve the problems of cattle rustling, animal disease transmission and the underdevelopment of the livestock value chain.
“He later co-founded Livestock247.com (Nigeria’s 1st Online Livestock platform) which has changed the business of livestock in Nigeria and continued to initiate many tech-driven innovations in the crop side of agriculture through his involvement with many agritech companies in Nigeria. Through Livestock247, where he served as a founding CFO, director and later vice chairman of the board, Muhammad managed multi-million-dollar international donor-funded projects for various interventions in Nigeria.
“I have known him to be a smart, hardworking, prudent and passionate advocate for the development of the agricultural space in Nigeria, and he has always been interested in pushing for policies that could improve the lives of Nigerians, especially smallholder farmers.”
Speaking further on the capacity of the NADF new boss, Ahmad described him as “a perfect gentleman in his early fifties (don’t be distracted by his genetically inherited baby face), and one of the best brains I know. He brings over 25 years of vast experience in leadership, management, agricultural finance, and agriculture technology solutions to this office.
“Muhammad has a first degree in Accountancy from the University of Jos and is a Certified Agricultural Finance and Banking expert. He is an alumnus of the Harvard Kennedy School and has also attended the Robert Kennedy College Zurich, Frankfurt School of Finance and Management and a Fellow of Aspen Institute Leadership Initiative for Africa.
“A card-carrying member of the APC, who has politely turned down many invitations from his constituency to run for an elective office, but has been actively involved in campaigning for good candidates at the local, state and federal levels in the past nine years.
“It has always been Muhammad’s nature to promote others selflessly and he never bothered about the role he plays to get the job done as long as it is for the overall good of all.
“Apart from his obvious qualifications and competence, I truly believe this appointment by Mr. President is a reward for many years of loyalty, dedication and service to the agriculture sector in Nigeria.
“I can assure Nigerians that Muhammad Abu Ibrahim will leave a legacy in the agricultural sector in Nigeria. I can’t wait to see the many innovations in the development of the agricultural sector that will follow the appointment of this fine humble gentleman.
“I do not doubt that under the leadership of this agriculture/finance expert, the NADF will surely have a visible impact on the Nigerian agricultural sector in the same way (or even more ) the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) contributes infrastructure and extends other supports to the tertiary segment of the public education sector in Nigeria.”