FIRST NORTHERN PERMANENT SECRETARY FOR AGRICULTURE Mallam Mohammad Lawan was born in Maiduguri in 1914. He had his elementary and primary education at home before going to the famous Katsina College in 1933. He left Katsina College in 1937 and proceeded to read Agriculture. Hedidthis between 1937and1939inSamaru Zaria andlbadan. Mallam Mohammed Lawan, was aman destined to be thefirst Northern Agriculturalexpert. Unlike most of his contemporaries, he did not take to teaching. Hefollowed'thefootsteps of his grandfather who was acelebratedfarmer. He started work as an Agricultural Specialist in Kano province in 1939 where he worked under an expatriate. He was there till 1940. His expertise was to come in handy during the World War U (1940-1945) when it became his responsibility to produce andprovide tonnes of vegetablesfor war soldiers stationed in Kano. Perhaps his noblest legacy was the afforestation of the Sahelian Sub-region of Northern Nigeria. Being the North s first Agricultural Officer, his travels to countries with same vegetational conditions as the North, provided what could be described as the blue print for 'Make Bomo Province Green ". He went to countries like Iraq, Palestine, Sudan and Egypt with the same ecological conditions asBorno. Again, when a survey revealed that there wasa deficiency ofa number of vitamins in the sub-region,itwas Malam Muhammed Lawal to the rescue. For this, he went to the Middle East and after someyears of transferring seeds and buds, the result was atleast two million treesofMango, Guava andUme. He was also responsible for the setting up of the Yobe River and the Mbege River Schemes covering about four thousand acres. Malam Muhammed Lawan was a very remarkable man worthy of emulation, as he became one of Nigeria's most respected civil servants. Hewas thefirst government official to become anNA Council member in 1953 in Borno Province. He was also a memberof the Letchworth Administrative Inquiry that recommended the depositionof .ShehuofDikwainMarch, 1954. This man who made efficiency his watchword was made the Permanent Secretary in the Northern Ministry of Agriculture and Forest Resources aposition well deserved and well suited to the man who always did what was right and when it was right. He was in that position till the creation of States and deploymentof top civil servants in 1968. He retiredfrom service only to be made aMemberof the Public Service Commission in the giant North Eastern state the same year.
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