The West Africa regional representative for the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), Dr. Issoufou Kollo Abdourhamane, has officially retired from active service in the organisation on December 13, 2021.
Having worked in Nigeria for five years, Abdourhamane, who has reached the age of retirement, confessed that it is a good time to return to the Niger Republic, his country.
“My five-year stay in Nigeria has been very pleasant and happy. I had a good environment and learnt great things staying in Nigeria.
“I realised that life is very short. We need to translate our knowledge to people who are younger. Transmission of knowledge is key.
“I will be checking my mail daily to see [if] there is mail from my colleague and friends from Nigeria.
“I think the AATF is taking time to look for a new project manager. In the meantime, I am sure that Dr. Francis Onyekachi will be the acting project manager until the new coordinator resumes.”
In her comments, the national coordinator, Nigeria chapter, Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB), Dr. Rose Gidado, presenting the gift from the OFAB family to Abdourhamane said: “Since Dr. Kollo Abdourhamane joined the AATF in Nigeria in 2016, we have made a lot of profits based on his contribution and hard work.
“We faced so many challenges, we shared and went through so many challenges. He is an experienced and knowledgeable person, having worked all over the world. He came with a lot of experience and assisted us a lot in biotechnology. We have achieved a lot of good things and he stood by us and encouraged us all along, especially the OFAB family.
“We pray we have someone like you, one who will toil as you did. We wish you a very peaceful journey and wish that the people by your side will be good.”
Dr. Francis Onyekachi, representing the AATF, said: ” Dr. Kollo is retiring officially but he is still active. He has been working very hard on cowpeas [and] I believe he will still be there to drive the project.
“I know that there are so many things some of us in AATF can still not do. I believe we will still beckon on him at intervals to come to support us.
“He is not just a scientist but a lover of history and understands Africa so much in great detail. He knows the philosophy of almost every cultural society in Africa and he will tell you where they came from. He mentored me to get into the position I am in today. I will say he practically packaged me and gave me this position.
“I hope I will be a representative of him, seeing as I worked with him all these years. I never saw him manipulate any figure. He is very sincere.”
