Dr. David Achimugu is outgoing President, Croplife Nigeria, an association of crop protection/agribusiness experts.
In his welcome address during the association’s 2026 Annual General Meeting held recently in Lagos, he outline achievements of his term including:
• Acceleration of Membership Drive
•Croplife Nigeria/Croplife Africa and Middle East Refreshed Collaboration
•Enhanced Pesticide Regulation
• Contributions to Stewardship and Sustainable Agriculture
• Setting Up and Running of Croplife Nigeria/NAFDAC Special Purpose Stewardship Committee
•Aggressive Pursuance of Enactment of the Pesticide Bill
•Kickstarting Future Structural and Administrative Changes
Quintessential and Gentleman par Excellence Achimugu led the organisation from 2022 till 2026.
Below is the full script of his welcome address at the August occasion:
CROPLIFE NIGERIA: ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM)
PRESIDENTIAL WELCOME SPEECH.
- Members of the Executive Committee of CropLife Nigeria including most
especially EX-Officio Members (our past Presidents): - Member- companies of CLN
- Member – Organizations like NAIDA, WAIDA
- Nigeria Agricultural Research Institutes, Professional societies like: Nigeria
Society for Plant Protection (NSPP), Weed Science Society of Nigeria (WSSN)
and others. - The representatives from National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and
Control (NAFDAC) and other regulatory Agencies (here present). - Other stakeholders
- All invited guests
- Members of the Press
- Ladies and Gentlemen
I am delighted to welcome all of you to the 2026 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of
CropLife Nigeria, holding here in Lagos. I thank God for the safety granted to all of us
from far and near to attend this AGM.
I begin this speech by paying tribute to all the past Presidents and Officials of CropLife
Nigeria CLN, most especially the founding Father of the association, Sir Patrick
Ikemefuna, a living symbol of commitment and loyalty to the industry. May God bless
them for the legacy of sacrifice to humanity and pattern of good works they left for
generations to emulate.
In February, 2022, the current Executive Committee (EXCO) was first elected to the
leadership of our great association and same members were re-elected into office in 2024.
We have therefore completed our mandatory four (4) years in office in accordance with
our constitution. In the light of the above, the EXCO Members, led by the President, would
step down at the appropriate time in the course of this meeting to allow the conduct of
elections into the various executive offices of the association.
Ladies and gentlemen, suffice to mention that in the last four years of our tenure, a lot of
ground was covered in moving the association forward. Some of the things worthy of
mention here include the following, in no particular order:
Membership Drive: We promised to run an all inclusive administration and drive for
new members in the process. This we did at every general meeting. Today, during this
AGM, CropLife Nigeria would be admitting new member-companies in attestation to that
effort.
□ CLN/CLAME Relationship: As a Policy, the current EXCO decided to warm-up to
the relationship between the regional body CLAME and CLN, there by bringing in
tremendous benefits to the national chapter. One of the outcomes of the renewed
relationship was the visit of CLAME to Nigeria between 12th
-16th, September 2023, which
resulted in increased funding assistance received during the period under review especially
as recent as 2025 for the twin workshops on capacity building and sensitization on
Minimum Residue Levels (MRLS) and Illicit Drug trafficing. The networking benefits of
that visit to the association cannot be over emphasized.
□ Pesticide Regulation: As an association that prides itself in self regulation, standard
procedures and Code of Conduct as established by CropLife International and adopted by
regional and national chapters, as in the case of CLN, within the extant laws of local
regulatory authorities, remain key in our operations and practices. Please, we request that
any Member-Company that needs a copy of the CODE OF CONDUCT, should get in
touch with the Chairman, Technical Committee.
□ Stewardship and Sustainable Agriculture: Our specific Stewardship activities,
during the period under review, would be itemized in subsequent reports by my colleagues.
However, let it be mentioned here that our activities are tailored towards promoting the
Plant Science industry’s contribution to sustainable agriculture. This include, but not
limited to IPM (Integrated Pest Management) Strategies, Training Programmes on safe,
responsible and effective use of Crop Protection Products (CPP); Empty Container
Management; Ethical disposal of obsolete stocks. We are proud to recount the disposal by
incineration of tons of obsolete pesticide stock, supervised by Federal Ministry of
Environment and executed by a licensed company in Port-Harcourt Nigeria. Details of that
exercise is contained in the subsequent report too.
□ CLN/NAFDAC Special Purpose Stewardship Committee: As a result of reported
incessant cases of food contamination, rejects of agricultural commodities due to high
pesticide residues arising from gross misuse and abuse of instructions on product labels ,
coupled with poor knowledge and skills of stakeholders in the agricultural value chain,
CropLife Nigeria (CLN) in collaboration with NAFDAC, did set-up a special purpose
Stewardship Committee that continued to embark on training all enumerated Agrochemicaldealers in Nigeria. We have covered close to four regions of Nigeria to-date and other
regions would follow in due course.
It is worthy of note that the special vehicle has metamorphosed into tripartite committee of
CLN/NAFDAC and NAIDA, for the purpose of carrying along the Pesticide down-stream
national association of Agro-dealers. The idea is to pursue inclusivity and ownership of
training and accreditation. (More on this would come in our detailed Stewardship reports
later).
□ Pesticide Bill: The goal is to have an all encompassing law to govern the Pesticide
industry in Nigeria that will address all issues and challenges of the industry from Product
Registration to Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) involving mandatory training and
certification of Ago-dealers, Agricultural extension workers and other relevant
stakeholders. The Bill, when established will also provide a veritable platform for advocacy
backed by law. This is especially important in our engagement with the international
community, the policy formulators and so on.
□ Future Structural & Administrative Changes: In continuation of the discussion on
this subject at the interaction session with officials of CLAME in September, 2023, this
Exco envisaged an office in Abuja to take advantage of the many MOUs with Partners,
Regulators and Stakeholders (Extension Africa, ECOWAS, IFDC, NESREA, NAFDAC,
FMA & FS etc.). CLN makes bold to announce that today, we have a functional secretariat
at Asokoro, Abuja.
Finally, we want to inform all stakeholders that even at the finishing time of our tenure in
office, more MOU of great benefits are being negotiated, for example, the one between
CLN and IITA. Some of the details shall be given in presentations that will follow
thereafter.
Dear Member-Companies and all stake-holders, our leadership held very high, the flag
hoisted by our predecessors and we are living behind boisterous, forward looking
organization, Croplife Nigeria. It is our hope and prayer that the incoming EXCO will push
forward the frontiers of greater of growth and development, in unity of purpose within and
without the industry.
Long live CropLife Nigeria! Long live Republic of Nigeria!!.
####