Following the recent deployment of permanent secretaries to various ministries by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF), Dr. Marcus Ogunbiyi has assumed duty as the permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
Speaking during the handover ceremony at the ministry’s conference room, Ogunbiyi expressed gratitude to the honourable ministers and staff of the ministry for the warm reception accorded him on arrival. He pledged to drive President Bola Tinubu’s ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda in the agriculture sector, aimed at achieving food and nutrition security while enhancing the country’s economic growth.
Ogunbiyi emphasised that agriculture is one of the top four priority areas of the current administration’s agenda, focusing on food security, job creation, poverty alleviation and economic growth. He remarked, “It is a homecoming. With a PhD in agricultural engineering, an open-door policy and a wealth of knowledge, we will take the agricultural sector to higher and higher levels.”
He urged the directors to support the ministers in achieving the ministry’s mandate of ensuring food sufficiency and boosting the economy.
Earlier, the outgoing permanent secretary, Mr. Temitope Fashedemi thanked the management and staff for their support during his tenure and appealed for the same level of cooperation to be extended to the incoming permanent secretary.
A statement by the ministry’s director of information signed by Charity Ogbuagu noted that the highlight of the ceremony was the signing and exchange of handover documents between the outgoing and incoming permanent secretaries.
