Lamido condemns FG over of Auyo irrigation scheme

Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido has condemned the persistent neglect of the Auyo Irrigation Scheme by successive governments at the centre.Lamido made the statement when the Managing Director of Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Alhaji Muhammad Santuraki, visited him at the Government House, Dutse, recently.He said: “Since 1980 the Auyo Irrigation Scheme is still in phase […]

Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido has condemned the persistent neglect of the Auyo Irrigation Scheme by successive governments at the centre.
Lamido made the statement when the Managing Director of Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Alhaji Muhammad Santuraki, visited him at the Government House, Dutse, recently.
He said: “Since 1980 the Auyo Irrigation Scheme is still in phase 1. The irrigation scheme is yet to fully take off,  30 years after. The Federal     Government, under President Jonathan, promised us N10 billion to complete the scheme. Up till now, nothing has been done.”
“Jonathan and Vice President Namadi Sambo came to Jigawa, went to the Auyo and promised to do something. Nothing has been done. The Minister of Agriculture also came and made promises. We are still waiting for them.
“This is a scheme that has the capacity to feed the whole nation but government is not doing anything about it. About 85 percent of the people of the state are farmers. If schemes like this are completed, it will go a long way in addressing the needs of the people.”
Earlier, Santuraki said the Bank of Agriculture has N1 billion facility to boost agriculture in the state, calling on the state to pay its counterpart fund.
Meanwhile, Jigawa State Government has approved the sum of N784.9 million for the purchase of 6,000 metric tonnes of fertiliser for the 2014 farming season.
This was disclosed to journalists by the Jigawa State Commissioner for Information, Youth, Sport and Culture, Alhaji Ibrahim Babandi  Gumel, at the end of the state executive council meeting.
He said 3,000 metric ton of NPK and 3,000 metric tonnes of Urea would be among other types of fertiliser.