FG sets up body to monitor policy implementation in agric sector

The Federal Government has disclosed plans to set up a body that will follow up on the decisions of the National Council on Agriculture and Rural Development (NCARD) in the areas of policies to ensure they are implemented appropriately.

The Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mustapha Shehuri said the body Community of Practice (CoP) will assist the Ministry in areas of additional knowledge, expertise and experience to move together on the same pathway.

Speaking in Abuja at the inaugural meeting Cop for State Commissioners of Agriculture, the Minister said CoP will be vested with the oversight responsibility to ensuring effective policy implementation in the agricultural sector in line with policy best practices.

“It is pertinent to note that National Council on Agriculture and Rural Development (NCARD) is still the highest policy making body for Agriculture and Rural Development in the country; however, the absence of a definitive follow-up of decisions taken during the yearly NCARD meeting contributes to policy inconsistency and perennial policy failure in the sector.

“As a result of this, the need for a complementary body to support, effective interaction to engender close monitoring of agricultural policy process as decided by NCARD has arisen.

He said this concept is not new as similar structures exist in other Federal Ministries, i.e the CoP for State Honourable Commissioners/Heads of Budget and Planning Agencies established by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.

Such structure according to him have continued to influence improvements in the governance structure in Nigeria and improve the Federal and States relationship to foster common Agenda.

The Minister reiterated that the present administration is committed to the diversification of the Nation’s economy and has made the development of the agricultural sector a top priority.

Shehuri said the main objective of having a CoP in the Ministry is to build a common platform for the planning streamlining and implementation of Agricultural policies and programmes across the 36 States of the Federation and the FCT.

In his address, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr Ernest Umakhihe said the Minister of agriculture and rural development, Dr Mahmood Abubakar approved the establishment of Cop in order to create a common platform in the planning and implementation of agricultural policies, programmes and plans across the 36 states of the Federation and FCT.

He said the CoP forum is expected to bring together all key players in the Agricultural Sector from the Federal and State Governments, Development Partners and Non-state Actors.

“The forum entails regular and stronger collaboration, sharing of information, skills improvement and to actively deepen the general knowledge of members with a view to sharing experiences and institutionalization of best practices amongst relevant stakeholders.

“The overall coordination of CoP will be undertaken by the Honourable Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development as Chairman with membership drawn from State Honourable Commissioners for Agriculture/Rural Development and other relevant state and non-state actors.

“Permanent Secretary of FMARD will serve as the Secretary of this forum and will be supported by the Planning and Policy Coordination Department as Secretariat.

“The Secretariat will be capacitated with the facilities for keeping the records of meetings and for supporting and reporting on the activities of this forum. Members are expected to meet every two (2) months on rotational basis in the states.

“Therefore, the platform will eliminate conflict of interests, as issues will be discussed and solutions would be given without recourse to the traditional dispute resolution mechanisms”, he explained.

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