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From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
National Ginger Association of Nigeria at its national general election 2022 held in Kaduna on Saturday elected a new crop of leaders to run the affairs of the association for the next five years.
The association’s new National President is Mr. Gagarin Madaki while Isaac Kure and Emmanuel Nehemiah are the Deputy National President and National Secretary General.
Others are Mrs. Elizabeth Jibji Bukar as National VP (North East), Mr. Tekaa Luga as National VP (North Central), Mr. Amaechi Ikerinyimba National VP (South East), Mr. Rechard Isokari as National VP (South-South), Alhaji Adamu Makarfi as National VP (North West), Barr Stephen Sekav Dzever as National Legal Adviser, Mrs. Julianah Tanko as National Treasurer, Mr. Moses Bona as Organising Secretary, Mr. Kenneth Suwaas Financial Secretary, Mr. Peter Umar Waziri as National Auditor, Mr. Kuzayet Baba as National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Joshua Kwasau Nok as Assistant National Publicity Secretary and Ishaya Markus as Assistant Secretary General.
Speaking shortly after his inauguration, the new President said his team would hit the ground running to ensure Nigeria’s comparative advantage in ginger production receives a boost by way of producing and exporting quality produce leveraging on the international best practices.
According to him, “we will hit the ground running by encouraging our farmers to start producing based on international best practices which are making our products to be rejected in the international markets.
“We have issues of poor post-harvesting handling, use of inorganic chemicals among others. We want to improve the yields the farmers get. We also want to move from conventional weighing per bag to per kilogram because a lot of sharp practices happen both ways – between farmers and buyers.
“These are important measures we need to put in place because when there is transparency in commodity trading, it will attract a lot of investors and keep others in the value chain comfortable.
“Coincidentally, I am the first and only indigene that have used the dry port in the last five years to export ginger. The problem is not from the dry port here but that the congestion at the other end. The process here is very smooth and I encourage people to use it. It is a one-stop shop – customs, payment, etc”, he added.
However, some of the contestants from the South West and South East who have indicated interest could not make it in person to the venue of the election in Kaduna due to security reasons.
Ginger is the fourth largest priced commodity in Nigeria which makes it a good foreign exchange earner. It is used in the manufacturing of pharmaceutical drugs and during COVID-19, ginger value got skyrocketed by about 500 percent because people know the impact it has on colds, cough and all that.
Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture, Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mining and Agriculture (KADCCIMA), Kaduna State Ministry of Technology and Innovation, All Farmers Association of Nigeria among other stakeholders witnessed the election held at a hotel in Kaduna.
