- •Recalls how First Lady Tinubu facilitated law for institute’s survival
Immediate past Director-General, Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN), Prof. Adesola Adepoju, takes Southwest Bureau Chief BISI OLADELE through his eight-year experience as the helmsman of the institute. He recalled how he led FRIN to solve many of the problems associated with timber and non-timber forest products, teaching, learning and research as well as how insecurity and paucity of funds are hindering afforestation of the country which is a natural panacea for manipulated ecosystem which results in flooding, harsh weather, unpredictable rainfall and climate change issues.
Are you a forester by training?
No, not directly. All my degrees were centered on natural resources but more of Agriculture. I was with Leventis Foundation where I was the Head of the Department of Rural Enterprise Development. My job really was to think how natural resources can benefit mankind and how can we stop them from going into extinction.
So, you would be right if you say I’m a natural or environmental resource manager. My job is to think out natural resources. How do they benefit mankind and how can they still remain the way they are? The sustainable use of our natural resources is my focus, but more of environmental natural resources.
How were you able to apply your knowledge and experience to better the lot of FRIN within the eight years you have been here?
Naturally, I love challenges. I joined FRIN on the 5th of August 2002, just fresh from my PhD degree from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria. They needed to do their accreditation in the Federal College of Forestry, Jos, in the Agric Extension and Economics Department. They needed somebody with those degrees to get accredited. That’s how they searched for me and I joined them on the 5th of August 2002.
It wasn’t that easy when I joined them because that was a college then that didn’t have a core PhD holder in any of the core programmes that they were running. So, I was the first PhD holder in that system. The other person who had a PhD, I think it was in Sociology, which is not directly related to the programme and the system wasn’t running then. When I joined the system, I think the phobia or the fear that this guy is just coming in, he coming with a PhD, how can we just curtail him because obviously he is already in the making; the hostility was a bit there. For about three years, I had no personal office. I had to practically operate from the transit accommodation that I was given at the college. That was where my students met with me and that was where I did my study and all of other personal things.
But as God would have it, I think my second year into that system, they were to write about the 48 years existence of that college, and they needed somebody to put all their files and activities together into a book. That was how it fell upon my shoulders.They wanted me to run through the files, bring out the relevant information to produce that book. I started, and came to Ibadan to make presentations on that.
Shortly after that, President Olusegun Obasanjo wanted a synchronised budget system, which is called MTSS. They needed somebody who had vast knowledge or fairly good knowledge in using the computer, fair economics knowledge and can fairly apply economic theories to the core activities of the system and can translate it to Naira and Kobo. The registrar then in Jos, who had worked with me but was on his way out to the headquarters here (Ibadan), suggested me to the then executive director, Prof Owonubi, who asked them to fetch me at once. Coincidentally, he employed me and was my teacher at Ahmadu Bello University. He fetched me at once and asked me to meet them in Abuja, and that was when my story changed. I was still lecturing but I now became the budget officer of the institute.
Time began to add more responsibility to the budget officer role. In effect, the name was not depicting the numerous activities I was doing for the organisation. So, my name metamorphosed to Liaison Officer, FRIN because of the other things I was doing. That was how the journey began.
I was still doing all my core duties in the college but still transversing the entire country because we have our spread all over the country. Wherever there was a problem, I had to get there and solve that problem, attend to it and get back to Jos and still do my primary responsibilities. That was what I was doing until that envy built up and I think there was some report that got to the Board about me and the Board was furious. They summoned me to a meeting in Abuja with the then executive director who took over from Prof Owonubi. It was a very nice and pragmatic board; the members wanted to address the issues. They had gone through the petitions and all the reports. They had also gone independently to Abuja to do all their investigations and they were just to confirm whatever they had found with me. By the time they realised that I was actually the engine room of the institute, most of these reports must have come from envy and all of that, that was when they asked the then ED, Prof. Badejo, that with all these enormous responsibilities placed on this man’s shoulders, how has he ever been rewarded? And he said ‘no they can’t, it’s his duty. He is getting whatever that is accrued to his duty but nothing special has been done for him.’ The Board said he was not a fair person.
There was a man on the Board then, one Prof Alapegi from Port Harcourt. He said even in the university, there is a reward system. There and then, the Board pronounced that I should be promoted to the next level and that shouldn’t affect my normal promotion trajectory. Little did I know what God was working out there.
Between 2002 when I joined them and 2012, I had hit the peak of everything available in the system, which was Director then. After that, I became the Provost of the college in Jos. That should be 28th of March, 2012. I was on that seat in 2015 when the then ED was leaving and an advertisement was placed. Some sycophantically encouraged me, saying there was the genuine concern that I was the man that could do the job. They said I changed the face of the college in Jos in three years. That time, the US embassy had to even come in a convoy to that college, a month or two before I left in 2015.
The embassy requested an exchange programme in the US. The proposal was that our staff and students could run an exchange programme. That was a month before I left. I handed that document to the person who took over from me. That is history. That never took place because the college, instead of going up, has nosedived. Thank God I’ve got somebody who works like me back to that college in Jos now and he is working his ass out to get the college back to its glory. That’s how I had to come to Ibadan, April 1st, 2015 to resume as the Executive Director then.
I was just speaking my mind when I came because I addressed all the staff when I came. I asked them to take pictures of everything that was available so that when I am leaving, they can compare with the situation when I complete my tenure. I told them: ” If God is indeed in me, you will see the difference.” I just spoke my mind, I didn’t know where it came from.
When people thought I had a diary somewhere or I have a master plan that I brought, I tell them I hadn’t anything. I just came with sincere heart to see what God could help me achieve. And whatever I thought I presented before Him, before I closed my eyes, He’s done it. Even I will just whisper to Him and say how I wish you could do this, before I shut my mouth, it’s done. And people started thinking that I have the magic wand, and I kept telling them there is no document anywhere neither is there any master plan but things are just always on my mind.
I have a diary and jotters on my bed. If anything comes to my head, I put it down. Even if it is via a dream, I put it down, and when I wake up, I run with it. Not that there is a prepared form somewhere and I am implementing it. I just keep brooding over issues or searching God’s mind, asking what He wants me to do here, how do I tackle this and before I know it, answer will come. Not only that answer will come, resources would also follow to do whatever I so wished to do.
But it has not really been easy, particularly when you look at the general belief of the country. People expected you to come and start sharing money. Probably they enjoyed it before I came. And I told them that if I embezzle this money, you will not know. Not that I am painting sainthood, but why don’t I do things that will affect your own career?
In 2018, we were having challenges with an enabling document for the institute and we realised there was none. FRIN was established by a decree and it merged that institute with about 14 other institutes including CRIN, rubber research and all of them. They were created by fiat. I rejected the idea because I was already getting to international platforms and no international platform will deal with you if you don’t have a law they want to see that protects their fund or protects the agreement you want to reach with them, and I said it is doable.
Even my first appointment in 2015, President Jonathan put that clause there that the law of the institute is obsolete and should be reviewed. Because even in my appointment, there was nowhere to place what conditions your appointment enjoys. You realise that there is a lacuna that could lead to a lot of litigation and union agitation and all of that. We started and a lot of people who love this in the National Assembly got involved.
But I just mention this, the wife of the president-elect, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, is by every standard a mother. I’ve rarely found people like that in my life who genuinely love and is concerned about you, about what you do. With all her tight schedule, she has been to the institute twice.
Same thing, the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed who visited in 2020 and 2021. She still came to see what I was doing because they believe so much in me.
But one special thing Senator Oluremi Tinubu did was that when we were to do the public hearing on that law, she bankrolled the expenses from her purse. I did not spend a kobo for the public hearing. And she sat there throughout the programme and then she ensured that the bill was enacted. Now, we have a law since that August 2018. It was that same law that allowed me to spend two terms.
Yes, Prof Badejo spent two terms but it was litigated because there was no document that legalised such. But with that law it was clearly stated there that you could be the DG for four years, two terms. And that’s what some people are trying to manipulate now; they wanted me to stay longer, arguing that my first tenure was christened ED. I said no, there is no lacuna anywhere, it is still one law. The law only allows me to spend four years, two terms, I can’t re-intrprete what the law says. If God has been this kind to me, I think I should be grateful and be a man of honour to whatever it is on ground.
That’s how we had the law and that law is what now propelled us to limelight worldwide. As I speak to you, I’m the chair of Man and Biosphere programme of UNESCO. This is the first time an African will be chairing the programme. It is a programme of 198 countries, which I am the chairman and also the first time the chair would be reelected because there are so many countries on the queue. Beyond that, it also enables us to bring our conference that is always rotational across the world to Nigeria for the first time in 50 years. We hosted that programme in Abuja, the president was part of it.
Are there other achievements you recorded?
Without sounding immodest, it’s limitless but I’ll just mention some key ones. That law also was the reason I was able to increase the colleges of the institute from four to seven. We created additional three colleges – one for the Southeast, which is in Isiagu; one for the Southsouth, which is in Fuga, Edo State; one for the North East, which is in Maiduguri. That has allowed us to activate the major reason FRIN was established, which is farming system. Farming system is why that institute was established. It is meant to reach out to farmers who are farming trees or related activities because it is not only trees that make up forestry. We have timber and non-timber products, which we call flora and fauna.
We are now able to reach farmers in their natural habitat and doing what we are created for. We can now identify their problems, bring their products to the institute, which form the basis of our research. We solve the problem and take the solution back to them. That takes place twice a year now- one in the South, one on the North.
Is it a conference?
It is a conference with practicing farmers in rural habitats. Anybody that is doing what we are created to do is encouraged to bring his problems and tell us openly. Those who are in that area will take that up from there, and research into it to find appropriate solutions. When we are meeting the next time, we would have solved the problem and just hand over the solution to them.
Again, we have been able to open up the system. When I came, there was no department of wildlife and ecotourism. Now, it has been created. Also, we had nothing like environmental and modelling department. Because we need to now work with the satellite. Instead of sending people to Sokoto to tell me what is on ground, they can get the satellite imagery of Sokoto and interpret it on paper to let us know how the desert is travelling, how the desertification is travelling, how much forest is left in the country so that we can advise and recommend to our principals appropriately and scientifically, as this is our mandate. We advise the government and other stakeholders on what to do to address issues that come up.
We also turned biotechnology to a department. We believe in case there are challenges that could affect the demand for seedlings, we can also via the lab raise millions of seedlings through test tube that can still achieve the same purpose. That was also created and it cost us well over N100 million equipment to make sure they are functioning well. We have also transformed the soil section from what it used to be to a full department now. They are also running their course.
If you go to FPD & U, they have been able to come up with various products. They have been able to tile the floor and develop slim boards from saw dust. They have been able to do all of that and other products. These are what we have been able to do within that place.
In the Wildlife Department, I’ve created AVRE for them. AVRE is when a living bird can be conserved if it is under threat or already endangered. That AVRE should be the biggest in West Africa. It can conserve any flying bird that is going into extinction and all of that. I can’t count them but the last that I will mention to you which is important in that line is the vegetative propagation section that we created. We realised that we promote more of the exotic tree species, imported species, because of the difficulty in raising our indigenous tree species. I was able to get two to three officers trained who are now working on 10 selected indigenous tree species under the supervision of Her Excellency, Amina Mohammed, when she was the Minister of the Environment.
So, we want these 10 species to shorten the gestation period so that the African proverb that says those who plant trees don’t live to reap from the trees can be defeated. For instance, bitter cola tree normally takes more than a decade to grow and start fruiting. We’ve been able to shorten it to maximum of seven years. Same thing with cherry tree, sour sop, and shea butter. We are working on those 10.
We can’t even meet the demand because it is not raised naturally. Those who booked, we raise for them. Some fruits are three years old but because we wouldn’t want to break the stem, we do an abortion for it. We abort the fruit so the stem can get stronger before it carries another fruit. I improved on all the infrastructure. I made sure everything needed for researchers to work is there; that everybody’s office is comfortable to work. You’ll be shocked that we spent minimum of N2 million per month on energy just to make sure that people who are there are working.
The FRIN bottled water was one of my first projects when I came. I was just working round to familairise myself when I noticed a place and I was like there should be water here. This is the best water in Ibadan. When you take it, you will know. We can’t even meet the demand for it because of our limitations. As I speak to you, I doubt if there is any department that will say it is impaired or hampered from working because of infrastructure. They have everything they need to work.
When I came, I met only one Toyota Hilux on the road, but I doubt whether there is any department that has to do with mobility that does not have its own vehicle now. We even went as far as making sure that there is a fire fighter vehicle in the system to prevent these infrastructures from being consumed by any sudden fire. At times we assist Oyo State Government with our fire truck when there is fire outbreak.
We have our own grader because we have regular tracks within the compound. We are sitting on about 600 hectares of land, I can’t be hiring when we can acquire. We have our own grader. From time to time, maybe after rainy season, the road is bad, it runs through it and regrades the road. When they need to go and fetch a particular specie of soul, we have our tipper. We have tried to provide all these for the system so that at least work can go on and it makes it easier for whoever is coming after us.
How did you come about herbal products?
In 2020, when COVID broke out, I challenged my scientists that it was an opportunity for us to make ourselves relevant. So, we quickly assembled ourselves to start working on that. I’m glad to tell you that we developed NAFDAC approved remedy for symptoms of COVID-19 in 2020 and we are among the first to produce herbal sanitizer that was used then because it was compulsory you sanitizer. That was the first batch the Kaduna State Government got. It was our herbal sanitizer. As COVID was dying down, I challenged them further because I was privileged with highly placed people who will ask me when I run into them that do you have herbal remedy for this and that ailment? I assembled them again and said we must prove ourselves now. If you ask in town, people will open up to you we’ve been able to save a lot of lives from prostate, BP, blood sugar, fibroid, eye problem, libido issue that would have broken families. They are countless.
Do you feel fulfilled with your achievements at FRIN, and what do you think the institute should achieve in the next few years?
Within the limits of what God had approved for us to achieve, I have been able to substantially do most of them. But ultimately, in the area of speaking to fulfilment, I am not too comfortable to say ‘yes’ because ultimately whatever we are doing here should affect the country at large, but there are impediments that have not allowed that to happen. There are a lot of duplications of responsibilities within the country.
Secondly, the Land Use Act is also not helping because when you have a forestry research institute of this magnitude, we shouldn’t be suffering what we are suffering now. Even this harsh weather, unpredictable rainfall and climate change issues were all a fall-out of manipulated ecosystem. I am not sure we have moved close to 10 per cent of the forest cover, and the United Nations expects us to have at least 25 per cent of our light area to be forested. The CBD further challenged us that the 25 per cent is not even adequate, they are saying by 2030, they expect every country to have at least 30 per cent of its land area covered by forests. How would Federal Government achieve this?
The Buhari administration tried. At least, in my 20 years of being here, there is none of the past administration that has done as much as it, because there was a year we planted over 10 million trees in the country. But the question I can’t answer is how many of them are standing as I speak. The security challenges have not allowed me and my staff to dare some areas where we had worked to know whether those trees are still standing.
Secondly, where we can access, do we have adequate fund to manage them? In the dry season, ideally, if I have money, we should either do fire tracing or land-clearing in order not to allow anyone to just go and set fire on what we plant. If the plant is not fire resistant, no matter the heat, you still go back to point zero. These are the challenges that I would say we are having along that line.
With the multiple forest reserves spread across Nigeria which produce timbers, we are still importing a large percentage of our furniture.
Why is this so? What does the Federal Government need to do to reverse the trend?
I think the first I want to deal with is our patriotism. We’re not patriotic enough as a people. Because of the ego or class complex that we have, everybody wants something that is tagged imported.
Ironically, what is used in making that important thing you are buying probably is taken out of your own country to produce and sell back to you at exorbitant prices. Secondly, Nigeria has a lot of policies and laws, but they are ineffective. They are ineffective because if the law says you should take out only processed wood, there’s nothing wrong with taking Nigerian wood out. But the law says it must have been processed or semi-processed wood. Now, this involves a lot of stakeholders to actualize. If all or any of these stakeholders compromises that law or policy, all others have failed. I’m involved, the federal Department of Forestry is involved. NESRA, which is the enforcement agency of the ministry, is involved, Nigerian Customs Service is involved, the Timber Exporting Association is involved. Now if any of these sabotages others, we’re still on zero point.
The third problem is how easy is it in Nigeria to do business? If somebody wants to go into furniture making, you are aware how much that person will be spending on diesel or energy. Then how will he get his money back because who’s going to buy that item by the time you factor the cost of production into it?
If you are producing something in Nigeria and it’s costing N1,000 and an imported alternative, which is of better finishing, may not be better quality, but better finishing, is costing N70 to N80, who will buy yours? So of what comparative advantage are you going to pick that of Nigeria ahead of one with fine finishing and imported because cost of production is lower than here? It is only labour that is cheap here, not other cost of production is.
The last one I will talk about in that area is that for people planning to do good business, we don’t allow them to explore or exploit the natural resources. If you know you are into furniture, you know which wood you would love to use best. That’s why we’re there. We advise the person appropriately to start his own wood farm or plantation. Now, how do we do it?
