Nigerian President Obasanjo Gets UN Food Award

UN food agency awards Agricola medal to Nigerian President Obasanjo

President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria today received the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Agricola medal from for his role in bringing peace and boosting agricultural and social development in Africa's most populous country.

FAO chief Jacques Diouf conferred the medal at a ceremony in Abuja, the Nigerian capital "as a token of its esteem and respect for President Obasanjo's tireless efforts to fight hunger and poverty and to achieve food security and prosperity not only in his own country, but in the entire continent and the world at large."

As chairman of the Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), Mr. Obasanjo played a pivotal role in bringing food security to the forefront of the continent's political agenda by encouraging African leaders to work together to bring their populations out of hunger and poverty through democracy and sustainable agricultural and rural development, he said.

Several world leaders previously received the award, including President Johannes Rau of Germany, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar, President Jacques Chirac of France, King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, President Jiang Zemin of China and Pope John Paul II.

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