Union Flays Plan To Scrap NCAM

The Kwara State Chair
man of the Agricultural and Allied Employees Union (AAEUN), David Ehindero, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to disregard the report of the Presidential Committee on Rationali-sation and Restructuring of Federal Government Parastatals and Agencies on the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation.(NCAM).
In an open letter sent to the President last week and made available to our source, Ehindero stated that for the aims of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (TA) to be achieved, the NCAM should not be scrapped.
“We cannot fathom why a recommend the scrapped of an institution like National Centre for Agricultural mechanisation, the only centre in sub-saharan Africa dedicated to accelerating the pace of mechanization in the agric sector of the Nigerian economy” he said.
He said to enable the sector thrive through research and development of home grown technologies that could reduce the drudgery usually experienced by the peasant farmers so as to actualise the nations self sufficiency in food and fibre production, the centre should not be done away with.
According to him, the Oronsanya led team never visited NCAM and so were not in a good position to evaluate its activities.
He said the committee needed a better understanding of the practicial nature of NCAM’S activities before making their recommendations.