Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has commended the President of the Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA), Mr. Shuichi Suzuki, for the organisation’s sustained commitment to improving food security and transforming agriculture across Africa.
Obasanjo gave the commendation when Suzuki paid him a courtesy visit at his Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library residence in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
The visit formed part of Suzuki’s tour of Nigeria aimed at strengthening partnerships and expanding the association’s agricultural interventions.
The former president praised Sasakawa Africa Association for its long-standing support to smallholder farmers and for maintaining a consistent focus on agricultural innovation and capacity building.
He urged African governments to learn from the association’s model of persistence and long-term investment in food production.
According to him, continuity in agricultural programmes is vital to achieving sustainable growth in the sector.
“African leaders need to emulate the Sasakawa Africa Association by sustaining investments in agriculture. Consistency and continuity remain key to agricultural transformation,” Obasanjo said.
Mr. Suzuki explained that his visit was part of efforts to deepen the organisation’s collaboration with Nigeria and to identify new opportunities to support national agricultural initiatives. He noted that Nigeria’s future prosperity lies in harnessing its agricultural potential and youthful population.
“Beyond the oil and gas industry, agriculture and the country’s growing youth population remain Nigeria’s greatest assets,” he said.
During the meeting, both leaders discussed areas of cooperation aimed at improving food systems, strengthening rural livelihoods, and expanding farmer-support programmes.
The Country Director of SAA in Nigeria, Dr. Godwin Atser, who accompanied Suzuki on the visit, described the engagement as significant. He said it offered the visiting president an opportunity to appreciate firsthand the challenges and successes recorded in Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
“At Sasakawa, we have reached about twenty million farmers across Nigeria through various extension models in the past three decades. Yet, there is still much to be done to reach more farmers and make a greater impact,” Atser stated.
