HON. OROH: A TURNING POINT IN A BOILING POT

By: Eben Enasco Kingsley (Benin City)

It is in tune with the dictates of morality and good conscience for individuals and the society at large to recognize and appreciate the efforts, achievements and contributions of people, especially where such instances are clearly in the common good of the rich, middleclass and the laypersons.

This ultimately provided the needful tonic for greater efforts and selfless sacrifices by the citizens in the services to humanity which fires the patriotic zeal, great thoughts in their road map to success.

Honorable Abdul S. Oroh is the Commissioner, Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources Edo State. He is particularly responsible for policy advocacy, formulation and implementation in the state Agricultural sector with a view of making it more attractive to investors.

Prior to his appointment as commissioner Ministry of Agriculture, the department and its sectors were deliberately cast off, and food produce was on the low as the society rumbled for a positive change.

In his assumption in office in 2008, he immediately redefined the ethos and structure on which his vision to see Edo state take the lead at economic centre which eventually attracted the right investors, build up our heritage in Agriculture as our comparative advantages were utilized as well.

The seasoned journalist and administrator who also holds various certifications in alternative dispute resolution, conciliation and mediation, poverty reduction world Bank and DFID, has excellently achieved in his stead mouth watering projects as others are on going and near completion.

In his saddled responsibilities of formulating, promoting and implementing agric policies he has attained through his objective; sufficiency production of basic food commodities to the state since 2008, he has been able to procure 4,170, metric tones of assorted brands of fertilizers on 40% subsidy distribution to farmers.

In 2012, through his policy advocacy, he was subscribed to Growth Enhancement Support Scheme, GES, of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) designed to prod small holder farmers to ensure that middlemen are eliminated; whilst over 120,000 farmers and accredited agro farmers database.

Not done, the Agricultural mechanization programme for the refurbishment of tractors assisted in proper land preparation which ensured that some consumable were provided during the season that boosted production of staple foods.

Hon. Oroh, the turning point in a boiling pot also put into serious consideration human capacity building in order to ameliorate the hardship faced by a considerable number of Edo indigenes; as 280 Libya deportees were trained for self-sustainability. The idea eventually birthed Edo youth Agro-Business Initiative created more employment windows, boosted food production and reduced crime rate in the state.

The ministry in conjunction with Economic and strategy team organized the 1st Edo-Agric-business summit and as a result, 22 private corporate entities expressed keen interest and invested in Agro-business in the state.

Hon. Oroh the true bastion of change truly made a change following the setbacks in over 28years that no Veterinary Doctors were recruited. But today, a large chunk, precisely 10 more Veterinary Doctors has been recruited into the civil service which has already impacted positively in the quality of meat inspection services thereby reducing incidences of animal borne diseases.

The Ministry of Agriculture, precisely the extension component of Edo ADP in its mandate has been to reach 200,000 farm families in the state using group approach system of Extension to provide improved Agric-production technology of small scale farmers in groups.

Above all, the counterpart fund to project in the state such as FADAMA III Project, Community Based Natural Resources Management Programme, and Rural Finance Institution Building Programme, RUFIN, in the state was  geared towards generating employment and enhancing the state capacity for higher Agricultural production. In overall, over 10,000 beneficiaries by enterprises have generated employment and directly engaged in the area of processing crops and livestock production and planting/harvesting rice.

In education the College of Agriculture, Iguoriakhi and Agenebode have also been upgraded to train middle level manpower especially the youth for the Agricultural sub-sector of the Economy in addition to research activities in animal and crop husbandry. He has also invested and develop a land Bank with over 300,000 hectares of land set aside for Agro-business investors with thousands indigent, students awarded scholarship to further foster the laypersons.

These achievements are consequent upon Hon. Oroh’s exposure, credibility and intellect, which have gone a long way to establish uniqueness in agriculture and its produce as a roadmap to future Edo State via his leadership landmarks.