DG Sanginga’s tenure extended to ensure stability
The CGIAR-IITA Board of Trustees (BoT) has announced a one-year extension for Director General Nteranya Sanginga’s leadership tenure. Board Chair, Dr Christian Borgemeister, disclosed this to the Institute’s staff in a video address, where he explained the rationale for the decision to have the DG stay until November 2022.
Dr Nteranya Sanginga, IITA Director General
“Our reasoning as the IITA Board was that this would assure stability for the center during a period of unprecedented uncertainty because of the current COVID-19 pandemic as well as the transformation of the CGIAR to the One CGIAR,” Borgemeister said.
“We know that it would have been far too risky for the center to experience a transition in leadership during such a moment of volatility and a health crisis, and we strongly believe that this extension will assure a much smoother succession to new leadership,” he continued.
Echoing those sentiments, members of the IITA Senior Staff Association welcomed the new development. In an earlier meeting with the former Board Chair, Dr Amos NamangaNgongi, some staff also spoke of the possibility of an extension of DG Sanginga’s contract because they believed he had been good for the Institute.
During his tenure, Sanginga has overseen the large-scale delivery of research solutions to end-users, through partnerships with both public and private sector actors. He has also championed youth empowerment through agriculture, setting up the IITA Youth Agripreneurs (IYA) and the Start Them Early Program (STEP) to teach young Africans about agricultural value chains from a “foundational” age.
Sanginga has accepted the extension offer and plans to build new initiatives on the foundation of the successes already achieved. “Obviously, Dr Sanginga will need your continued support to successfully steer our center through this very difficult time. And we on the board are absolutely convinced that this will happen,” Borgemeister concluded.
