To Cut Waste, ARCN Reduces Research Institutes’ Board Membership by 89%

James Emejo

Worried by their sheer waste of time and scarce resources without commensurate output, the membership of boards of agricultural research institutes in the country has been drastically slashed by about 89.41 per cent, THISDAY has learnt.

It was further gathered that before the landmark purge, each of the 32 agricultural research agencies had 15 individuals on their respective boards, bringing the total to about 480 members.

This is in addition to the board membership of the Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN), the apex regulatory body, which had 30 individuals piloting the affairs of the council.

As a result of the excessive manpower, which is largely redundant, huge amounts of money were believed to be spent on their sitting allowances and other entitlements amidst funding gaps to these institutions.

However, troubled by the development, the ARCN under the leadership of Prof. Garba Sharubutu, had moved for the amendment of the council’s establishment Act to correct inherent anomalies as well as reposition the research agencies under its supervision towards living up to their primary mandates of ensuring food security among others.

After several attempts, the breakthrough finally came on October 8, 2021, when President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (Amendment) Bill 2021 into law.

Among other things, the amendment is expected to aid the council in playing a crucial role in coordinating research efforts in the agricultural sector towards achieving food sufficiency and security in the country as well as help actualise the present administration’s efforts to diversify the economy.

The new law effectively altered the boards’ ineffectual numeric size and paving the way for proper repositioning of the institutes.

Essentially, the law has now reduced the number of board of the ARCN to about nine members made up of technocrats extension agents who will be able to drive the desired change, especially at a period when research institutions have been blamed for not doing enough to respond to the issues affecting food production.

Sharubutu, in an exclusive chat with THISDAY explained that the various research institutes have had their respective board membership reduced to only about three, amounting 54 members across the country and consisting of highly technical individuals from the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), and the All Farmers Association.

Commenting on the former structure, which he described as unsustainable, the ARCN boss said, “These board members are expected to meet quarterly, and take a decision on the way forward. If you calculate that, you will know the humongous amount of money that is being spent; you may take it as welfare, you may take it as employment.

“But they are still eating deep into the meager resources that are being budgeted for the purpose of research. It doesn’t happen anywhere in the world. Go to China, Brazil, Egypt, it doesn’t happen where you have a humongous number of people that are supposed to deliberate on policy issues.”

He insisted that one of the primary objectives of the amended law was to reduce the cost of running the agricultural research agencies.