The National Ginger Association of Nigeria on Saturday elected Mr. Gagarin Madaki as the new national president of the association to pilot its affairs for the next five years.
Members of the association comprises of ginger farmers and other chain valuers that cut across the entire country.
Among stakeholders that witnessed the election which held at the Asa Pyramid Hotel, Kaduna on Saturday, are Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture; Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mining and Agriculture; Kaduna State Ministry of Technology and Innovation, and All Farmers Association of Nigeria.
The Chairman Electoral Committee for 2022 National Election of the association, Mr Nuhu Zamani, declared Madaki and 15 others winners of the election, through affirmation by members.
Other officers elected through the same process(affirmation) include, Isaac Kure(Deputy President), Emmanuel Hehemiah (National General Secretary), Mrs. Elizabeth Bukar(National Vice President-Northeast), Tekaa Luga(National Vice President, North-Central), Amaechi Ikerinyimba (National Vice President, North-East), Richard Isokari(National Vice President, South-South).
They also include Alhaji Adamu Makarfi (National Vice President, North-West), Stephen Dzever (National Legal Adviser), Juliana Tanko (Treasurer), Moses Bonat (National Organising Secretary), Kenneth Suwa (Financial Secretary), Peter Waziri (National Auditor), Kuzayat Baba(National Publicity Secretary), Joshua Kwasu Nok (Assistant National Publicity Secretary), and Ishaya Mary (Assistant Secretary General).
In his acceptance speech, the newly elected president said he would reposition the association to greater efficiency to meet international standard.
Madaki lamented that in the past few years, the association was plagued by problem ranging from lack of cohesion to that of “authentic” members of the association, a task, he noted would require the cooperation of members to resolve.
He also commended the Federal Government in its efforts to restructured ginger farmers across the country so as to meet international standard.
He said, “When I was seated at the back, somebody asked me whether these are the representations of the National Ginger Association of Nigeria and that was a very good question and I thought it important to me to address it.
“Now, unfortunately, National Ginger Association, has been plagued with problems in the last couple of years problems which I am going to inherit and resolve.
“On papers, we are about 5,000 farmers but as a result of the problems, a lot of farmers have stopped being a financial members which means they no longer renew their dues and in line with out Constitution, only when you renewed your dues that you are a member.
“Sadly now, we have less than 50 active financial members and that is why you are seeing the numbers that you are seeing in the hall here. I have decided I will take the advantage that and start all over again.
“We need integrity in our membership. We need to be able to identify who a member is, his village, farm and the number of hectares that he or she has.
“We are grateful to the Federal Government that they have established that people can no longer walk in directly into the villages and just pick this produce and affect the value chain.
“So, it’s very important for us to organize ourselves in a manner that people who need the product will come in a structured process.”
