President Muhammadu Buhari has re-appointed the Director General of the National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC), Olusegun Philip Ojo, for another four years in office.
The re-appointment letter dated May 22, 2019 and signed by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, explained that his re-appointment took effect from May 26, 2019.
The said letter explained that Ojo was first appointed as the director general of NASC in 2015.
It noted that he was saddled with the responsibility of leading the council when the seed sector was faced with plethora of challenges and dwindling resources occasioned by national and global recession as well as farmers’ low awareness on the use of improved quality seeds for higher yields and greater productivity.
Ojo’s areas of expertise and specialisation include seed certification and quality control, seed production, and seed testing, seed conditioning, as well as seed storage and capacity building.
Under his leadership, Nigeria, through the council, is benefitting from the regional harmonised seed regulation within the ECOWAS member states, as Nigeria is exporting seeds to other countries as a result of her advanced seed system.
The NASC under his watch has also reduced fake and unadulterated seeds hitherto sold to farmers by unscrupulous merchants and companies across the country.
There has been the development of seed system for vegetative propagated crops such as yams and cassava as well as seed tracking system that has enhanced traceability and real time tracking and documentation of seed fields across the country.
Ojo was recently appointed as a board member of AfricaSeeds-the implementing organ of the African Union Seed Programme
