During the visit, Nwanze will meet with President Goodluck Jonathan and hold separate meetings with the ministers of foreign affairs, finance and agriculture and rural development, respectively.
He is scheduled to address a media briefing after meeting with Jonathan.
According to the itinerary released in Abuja on Friday, Nwanze will also hold meetings with heads of UN agencies at the UN House on Tuesday.
The statement said the visit would afford Nwanze an opportunity to re-emphasise to African leaders his message that peace, stability and agricultural growth must come from within.
“It must be an intrinsic process where developing countries are working with their rural communities to help them to build resilience so that they can feed themselves and their families,” the statement quoted him as saying.
“It must be an intrinsic process where developing countries are working with their rural communities to help them to build resilience so that they can feed themselves and their families,” the statement quoted him as saying.
The visit is his third to the country since assuming headship of the UN agency as its fifth president on April 1, 2009.
Under Nwanze’s leadership, IFAD has stepped up its advocacy to ensure that agriculture is central to the international development agenda.
It has also ensured that the concerns and needs of small holders and other poor rural people are recognised by governments around the world.
Nwanze had served as IFAD’s Vice-President for two years before assuming headship of the organisation on April 1, 2009.
Prior to that, he was the Director-General of the Africa Rice Centre for a decade.
Nwanze was instrumental in introducing and promoting New Rice for Africa (NERICA), a high-yield, drought- and pest-resistant rice variety developed specifically for the African landscape.
He also transformed the centre from a West African association to an Africa-wide organisation with an international reputation for excellence.
He has more than 30 years of experience in poverty reduction through agriculture, rural development and research.
In recognition of Nwanze’s intellectual leadership on issues of food security, he was asked to chair the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Food Security in 2010.
Nwanze earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Science from the University of Ibadan in 1971 and a Doctorate in Agricultural Entomology from Kansas State University, U.S., in 1975.
An accomplished author and a member of many scientific associations, he has served on the executive boards of various institutions.
Nwanze has received numerous honours and awards from governments and international institutions, including Commander of the National Order of Merit of Côte d’Ivoire and Officer of the National Order of Benin. (NAN)
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