From Abdullahi Idris, Dutse
Jigawa State Governor, Umar Namadi has expressed concerns over acts of sabotage allegedly carried out by agro dealers in the federal government’s National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro Pocket Programme.
The Governor, who gave these revelations during an unscheduled inspection of input distribution centres in the Birnin Kudu, Kiyawa, Jahun, Miga, and Kafin-Hausa Local Government Areas of the state.
During the visits, Governor Namadi witnessed how farmers, who are key beneficiaries of the programme, were being swindled as a result of irregularities in the distribution process, as he found out from several centres how agro dealers sold subsidised inputs intended for farmers to marketers, thereby denying the intended recipients their rightful allocations.
The governor stressed that the farmers were required to pay N159,187 for their inputs, with 50% of this cost already subsidised by the Federal Government under the leadership of the then President Muhammadu Buhari. However, some unscrupulous individuals have imposed additional charges of N5,000 to N10,000, thereby further burdening the farmers.
In Kiyawa and Kafin Hausa Local Government Areas, the governor directed the arrest of some individuals involved in the racketeering, including the chairman of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, AFAN, in Kiyawa for allegedly inflating the prices of inputs, resulting in millions of naira being unjustly collected from farmers.
“Yesterday, we arrested somebody who has collected N2000 over and above what the government said, and today luckily, the man refunded all the money to the beneficiaries and we have released him. And today we are here; some people collected N6000 above what he’s supposed to reach.
“And now we’re here to determine the amount. And unfortunately, we are going to arrest another agro dealer here. He must refund this money; otherwise, we will arrest him. Because we will not allow our people to be cheated. And we will not allow anybody to sabotage this program. That’s what we are doing today”.
Namadi urged the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to urgently address the situation by replacing irresponsible agro dealers to prevent further disruptions to the programme, as he cautioned that the continuation of these racketeer activities could jeopardise not only Jigawa State’s wheat farming goals but the success of the scheme nationwide.
He reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to ensuring that the wheat production scheme benefits all intended recipients, pledging to continue monitoring the program closely to safeguard farmers’ interests and protect the integrity of the federal government’s agricultural initiatives.
