By Sodiq Lawal
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) has recognised and honoured 60 members of its staff for their outstanding performance in various fields of implementing policies and programmes of the ministry in line with the Federal Civil Service Strategic Implementation Plan (FCSSIP’25). Speaking during the event in Abuja, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mohammad Abubakar, said the FCSSIP’25 was built on the milestones of capacity building, talent management, performance management, innovation, digitalisation and enhanced value proposition for public servants.
Abubakar explained that the present administration was desirous of delivering vibrant and robust government policies to reposition and motivate public servants as well as ensure efficient and effective service delivery to Nigerians. He pointed out that the ceremony was special not only to reward excellence, but also to galvanise all staff towards high productivity geared towards achieving the diversification policy of the Muhammadu Buhari administration in the agricultural sector. He also explained that the agricultural sector was expected to make significant contributions to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the non-oil sector, adding that this dream cannot be achieved without the contributions of selfless, committed, innovative, and disciplined public servants, who have the statutory responsibility of formulating and implementing the ministry’s policies and programmes.
He revealed that the ministry, in its bid to reposition the agricultural sector, had developed the Green Alternative through the Agriculture Promotion Policy to ensure wealth creation, poverty reduction and employment generation for the teeming youths and women to boost the nation’s GDP. Abubakar reaffirmed that the ministry was committed to capacity building of its staff and had consciously allocated time and resources to training through regular in-house workshops and external sessions. The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr. Ernest Umakhihe, said the programme, which was part of the extant tradition of the ministry had become an annual event, adding that it was aimed at motivating and incentivising staff for better performance.
Umakhihe stated that the programme was based on provisions of the Federal Civil Service Strategy Implementation Plan 2021-2025 (FCSSIP’25). Dr. Umakhihe revealed that the ministry had identified and selected officers, who have demonstrated outstanding and sterling performance across salary grade levels during the year under review. The Director of Human Resource Management, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Alade, urged the staff not to rest on their oars following the introduction of the New Performance Management System while appealing to the staff to sustain the tempo, to enhance the score card of the ministry.
