Azeem Salako has congratulated Prof. Muhammad Yahaya Kuta on his well-deserved appointment as the secretary of the Presidential Committee on Implementation of Livestock Reform.
Prof. Muhammad Yahaya Kuta’s appointment was contained in the press statement issued by the presidency on Tuesday, July 9, 2024. Also, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, HE Bola Tinubu, is the chairman of the committee, and Prof. Atahiru Jega is the co-chairman. However, the implementation of the reform is anticipated to lead to the creation of the Ministry of Livestock and Development.
In his congratulatory message, Azeem Salako referred to “Prof. Yahaya Kuta as a distinguished professor of agriculture and forestry at the University of Ibadan. His research has focused on rural people, agricultural issues in Northern Nigeria, the communication process, and the integration of developing countries.”.
“Therefore, his expertise and organic knowledge, as a Northern stakeholder who has held many political offices, including being a one-time secretary to the Niger state government, make his appointment a round peg in the round hole.”.
Salako, who works directly under Prof. Yahaya Kuta as principal coordinator of the Collective Action for Harmony and Development (COAHD), said, “Prof. Yahaya Kuta is an impeccable example of a combination of an academic, an administrator, and a political technocrat rolled into one person.”.
“Prof. Kuta is a nationalist obsessed with the unity of Nigerians across all ethnic lines. And at different times he has demonstrated this, including using COAHD, his brainchild, to convene a national conference themed National Convention on Rethinking and Uniting Nigeria.”.
Salako, a political scientist and research fellow at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), added that
“At this critical time when Nigeria is confronting multidimensional ethnic conflicts that are concealed in different aspects of our social life, it appeared promising that President Tinubu has finally identified an individual who has what is required to unmask and bring to an end the intractable herder-farmer crisis that remains a major bane to the development of Nigeria.”.
“Prof. Muhammad Yahaya Kuta has emphasised in his scholarly contribution the need to cultivate communication processes that understand and address our nation’s peculiar situations in a bid for social change. Similarly, he has developed methodologies and considerations for landmark decisions, the role of education, and agricultural affairs in South-North settlements.
“These areas speak directly to the primary objectives and tasks the president has assigned for him, and there is no doubt he will perform valiantly.”
Azeem Salako wished Prof. Kuta well in his new national assignment and assured him of all the support that can aid and ease his task.