The Executive Secretary of Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN), Professor Garba Hamidu Sharubutu, has commended
the Chairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, for sponsoring the amendment of the ARCN Act.
According to Prof.Sharubutu mni, the Council’s amended act,
which has been signed by President Muhammadu Buhari, has harmonized the boards of the research institutes with the Board of the Council to enhance the operation of the Council with the research institutes it supervises.

Prof. Sharubutu further stated that the new act did not only reduce the bureaucracy in the various research institutes, but also reduced the cost of running the Council and the research institutes. Speaking with journalists in his office in Abuja, the ARCN boss commended Senator Abdullahi Adamu for sponsoring the bill. He also commended former Ministers of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, Alhaji Sabo Nanono and the current Minister, Dr. Mahmood Abubakar, for their roles in ensuring that ARCN Act was amended. “The person I will give real credit to for initiating this bill in order to make sure that the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria actually takes his proper place is Senator Abdullahi Adamu.

“He actually conferred with the agricultural research council management at that time, and said, if you are having these types of boards and we are not having the best, why can’t you come up with a law for us to be able to unify these boards, because in his wisdom, it is going to reduce cost; it is going to ensure that there is synergy; it is going to make sure
that you now perform your function of designing a research project in tune with what the government policy actually is.
“So honestly, I give him the credit, because he was the sole sponsor of the bill and all of us bought his wisdom, we then went down to work, we toured the whole of this country from one zone to the other. And what we did was we looked at the geopolitical zones, and held meetings with stakeholders, before we came up with a bill. “And, of course, again, I have to give credit to the ministers, in fact, the three ministers that
were involved, number one is Chief Audu Ogbeh, then Alhaji Sabo Nanono, then this current minister, Dr. Mahmood Abubakar, even though he met it at the tail end, but when his advice was sought, he actually sought serious briefing before he consented
to the fact that there is no problem with that bill, that the bill is definitely going to serve the interests of the country.

“We also give credit to the House of Representatives, because the chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Agricultural Colleges also participated actively by making sure that they concur with the bill,” he said.

Furthermore, Professor Sharubutu said that there is another bill sponsored by Senator Adamu which seeks to address the issue of funding for Research Institutes and other agricultural related activities.