Success Nwogu 
The former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, has said that only leaders with strong political will to formulate and implement innovative agricultural policies can significantly improve food production and meaningfully reduce hunger in Africa.
He also emphasized the need to deploy science and technology to advance agriculture and development across the continent, stating that political will is crucial in driving such progress.
Jonathan made this known in his keynote address at the inaugural CGIAR Science Week, which opened in Nairobi, Kenya, according to a statement by his media aide, Ikechukwu Eze, on Wednesday.
The former President urged African leaders to devote more time to addressing the welfare of their people and to expend less energy and resources on clinging to power.
He stressed that every African country possesses a rich pool of qualified and experienced professionals who can deliver on the task of good governance provided the right and dedicated leadership is in place to identify and productively engage them.
“Even when the leader is not a scientist, he should appoint competent people in every discipline who will deploy their knowledge and expertise to move the country forward,” Jonathan said.
Reflecting on his time in office, he said: “In terms of agriculture, for the five years I was President of Nigeria, we did very well.
“That was because I picked one of the best in that area as my agriculture minister Akinwumi Adesina, now President of the African Development Bank (AfDB).”
He added, “I believe that if you appoint people into positions of authority not because you know them or because they belong to your political party, but because they are good and competent, you will always get good results.
Some of the people I appointed as Ministers were not even around when electioneering and voting were conducted. People like Adesina and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, now Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), who was my Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, were outside the country during elections. But I knew they would help the country, and I brought them in—and that’s how we succeeded in managing the economy.”
Speaking at a side event organized by the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Jonathan said that research must be demand-driven and aligned with local realities.
“Policies that are not informed by the lived experiences of the people they are meant to serve often fail to achieve their intended goals,” he noted. “Another lesson is the importance of continuitymany research-backed programs take years to yield results, and frequent policy shifts can hinder long-term progress.”
He charged governments to establish mechanisms for integrating research into policy planning and execution and urged the private sector to actively participate in research and innovation not just as beneficiaries, but as partners.
Jonathan also called for collaboration between governments, academia, and the private sector to ensure that research findings go beyond publication and are translated into real-world impact.
