Why WAAPP wants research council restructured

What is WAAPP all about?WAAPP is a sub-regional programme of ECOWAS, consisting of 13 countries, funded mainly by the World Bank with contribution from other donors. For example, WAAPP Nigeria got grant from the Spanish government, while the federal government is supposed to give a counterpart funding of $5 million. WAAPP came up as a […]

What is WAAPP all about?
WAAPP is a sub-regional programme of ECOWAS, consisting of 13 countries, funded mainly by the World Bank with contribution from other donors. For example, WAAPP Nigeria got grant from the Spanish government, while the federal government is supposed to give a counterpart funding of $5 million. WAAPP came up as a result of the declaration of the development goals of the early 2000s, when African countries were faced with the challenge of low productivity of agriculture. It became obvious that agriculture needed to be made a priority. African Union felt there was a need for a change of attitude and approached the World Bank which developed an action plan and passed it to the AU who, in turn, passed it to the sub regional groups that developed their productivity programme. The first phase of WAAPP started in 2007 with Ghana, Senegal and Mali as the pioneer countries, and lasted five years. The programme has two objectives. The first is to increase agricultural productivity and, second, promote regional integration.
What is Nigeria’s role in WAAPP?
Nigeria was invited to join WAAPP in 2009. We developed the document and were supposed to have taken off in 2010 but could not do so. The World Bank declared WAAPP Nigeria effective January 2012, but we were not allowed to implement because it was not listed in the borrowing plan of the Nigerian government. Nigeria came on board with Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire, they started in 2010, but it was only in April 2013 that we started full implementation and, barely five months later, there was mid-term review. Every country was asked to choose a commodity they will specialise on and then do research on that commodity, generate technology for the entire West Africa sub-region. Nigeria, because we joined late, we wanted cereals e.g., rice, but it had been taken, we wanted roots, like cassava but Ghana has taken that, we wanted livestock, too, but it was been taken by Niger. So we were given aquaculture. Now we have three research institutes that are working for us in the area of aquaculture. They are the National Freshwater Fisheries Research Institute, New Bussa, Nigeria Crop Product Research Institute in Ilorin, and National Oceanography and Marine Research Institute, Lagos. The three constitute the National Centres on Aquaculture. WAPP is supporting them in their research programmes. We are training a lot of researchers in foreign institutions, there are 30 undergoing training now, we are focusing on bio-technology because that is the new trend. And also in the area of seed technology, if you go to National Cereals Research Institute there is only one rice breeder, only one person doing that research in Nigeria. There is a paradigm shift now, you must be interested in the outcome of your research, how has your research impacted on the people?
We are also interested in packaging, like fish, we don’t like what is happening, in Abuja you see people holding fish for sale by the road side, they are making a lot of money. But that is not how fish should be sold. We have agricultural grant schemes at WAAPP, competitive and non-competitive grant scheme, we fund research proposals based on topics that will yield tangible short-term results and we’re interested in the outcome of the research, how it will change the livelihoods of people.
What challenges is WAAPP facing in this regard?
Improving access to research and extension services will be critical to moving Nigerian agriculture to a higher growth path. The challenges here are to maintain productivity gains, while supporting technological innovations for agricultural diversification, and to add value through processing so that farmers can capture a large share of the gains. For the poor, rural farmers, promoting economic growth and reducing poverty are crucial to meeting MDG s. Many technologies from research institutes are generated and nothing happens to them. Take Shika-brown, it’s a layer breed of poultry that was released in 2000. Up till today, it has not been patented. Until these things are done, there is no issue of private sector coming in. The seed system in Nigeria is weak, and the relationship between agricultural research and seed companies is rudimentary.
How does WAAPP aim to transform the ARCN?
In 1999, the federal military government signed the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria Decree No 44 of May 26, 1999. The Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN) was launched in November 2006, with the appointment of an executive secretary. ARCN was established to address the challenges faced by the agricultural research system, and the  mandate of ARCN is to be delivered through activities of the 15 research institutes, 11 FCAs and the secretariat that comprise ARCN. The ARCN has not been effective. It has its board and the research institutes are there with their own boards, so whatever ARC tells the research institutes is not binding. When WAAPP started we conducted study tour of some countries like India, China and Brazil to see how they were doing, and we found out that in Nigeria we have three types of research councils, one is coordinating research council, another funding research council and the other managing research council, which is the best of the three. So, part of the recommendations from the study tour is that we need ARCN to be transformed into a managing research council, purely in charge of research, disbursement of money and all that, with only one board which many may did not like. We are planning to develop a document that will form the presentation that will go to government and the National Assembly to change or review the laws setting up the research institutes. The World Bank is also pushing for this change. This will have impact positively not only in Nigeria but all over the sub-region.
What is wrong with ARCN as it is presently constituted?
The ARCN was established to coordinate the system and refocus agricultural research in Nigeria, but the existing structure within the system makes it difficult to achieve the desired result. The present model has its own challenges and constraining factors. While ARCN has a governing board, each of the NARIs also have governing boards, thereby duplicating governance and unnecessarily increasing the administrative costs for the running and servicing of the boards. Furthermore, the research institutes take some decisions without recourse to the council and, in some instances, the decisions tend to create some frictions and reduce the capacity of the institutes to adequately deliver on their mandates. It is thought that a single board for the system will not only reduce the cost of governance but will ensure there is effective coordination and management of agricultural research throughout the country. The provision of the ARCN Act states that the research institutes and colleges shall get their funding through the council. However, the institutes and colleges, currently, obtain their funding directly, with little or no input from the council. This scenario has created a condition where the ARCN has little influence on the way the institutes and colleges disburse their funds as they do not have to account to the council. WAAPP should support ARCN to establish pilot ARTTCs, these are technology transfer centres to be called Agricultural Research Technology Transfer Centre (ARTTC). These centres will be responsible for transfer of new technologies, trials,  demonstrations, training of extension agents, soil testing for farmers, vocational training, etc. the establishment of the centres should be done in phases.