Former Nigerian president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo may be
heralding the newly-created Africa Food Prize as the chairman of the board by
announcing the inaugural winners, reports NaijaAgroNet.
Chief Obasanjo who has history in agriculture both in his
days as military head of state in Nigeria and later democratically elected
president and fondly called OBJ by admirers is the pioneer chairman of the
Africa Food Prize, which is another novel from AGRA secretariat in marking the
10th year of its foundation.
NaijaAgroNet also gathered that Obasanjo will be leading
other high-dignitaries to the award at the on-going African Green Revolution
Forum (AGRF), just as the accolades tend to focus attention on individuals and
institutions that are inspiring and driving agricultural innovations throughout
Africa.
Some industry watchers are already tipping the Nigerian
Dangote Industries and CocaCola Africa office as some of the winners to be
announced as part of the 2016 African Green Revolution Forum events.
OBJ, NaijaAgroNet gathered would be accompanied by the
former president of Ghana, John Kuffor and host president, Uhuru Kenyatta as
well as the chairman of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)
and founder of Econet Wireless, Mr. Strive Masiyiwa, to name a few.
While this year’s theme centres on “Seize the Moment –
Securing Africa’s Rise through Agricultural Transformation” NaijaAgroNet gathered that the theme was inspired by the call to action from the United
States Agency for International Development (USAID) enticed by President Barack
Obama’s Global Food Security initiative, which is classified as the largest
development commitment from the administration and one that is aligned closely
with the African Union’s (AU) agriculture agenda.
Hence this year’s AGRF would feature many other heroes of
African agriculture who are committed to mobilizing the investments and
partnerships that could “seize the moment” for making Africa’s agriculture
potential a reality.
Remmy Nweke/ED, Ops
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technologyPix: Obasanjo and Masiyiwa