N2bn FG fund tears farmers, Adamawa govt apart

Farmers in Adamawa State are at loggerheads with the state government over a N2 billion federal government agriculture intervention fund.  The issue of the agricultural support fund has been enmeshed in controversy after a former governor, Bala Nggilari, allegedly claimed that he spent N700 million on the feeding of internally displaced persons, prompting a petition […]

Farmers in Adamawa State are at loggerheads with the state government over a N2 billion federal government agriculture intervention fund.
 The issue of the agricultural support fund has been enmeshed in controversy after a former governor, Bala Nggilari, allegedly claimed that he spent N700 million on the feeding of internally displaced persons, prompting a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission  (EFCC) by a group of  farmers.
Speaking to Daily Trust in an exclusive interview, the public relations officer of the Agric Transformation Union (ATU), Abdulmumini Hussaini, said the funds which were released to the state government in 2014 through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) were to be disbursed to farmers in form of loans but that successive governments sat on the money.
He said the CBN had advised farmers to put pressure on the state government to release the funds for onward distribution to individual members. But he said the present government was making different claims about the purpose of the money to justify diversion of the funds.
“Nggilari squandered N700 million out of the N2 billion but the present governor, Muhammad Jibrilla Bindow, promised to disburse to our members the remaining N1.3 billion but has not done so yet. They are now talking of N300 million, what then happened to the remaining N1 billion. We are calling on the federal authorities to investigate the matter and to henceforth release funds to farmers directly,” he said.
He added that farmers in other states benefited fully from the loan and wondered why Adamawa State was lagging behind.
The publicity secretary of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) in the state, Musa Ma’aji, also accused the government of politicising the issue by allowing politicians to pick beneficiaries.
“We don’t know what happened to the N1.3 billion. They are currently distributing N300 million but only a few farmers can access the funds because commissioners and members of the state House of Assembly are involved in the process. The criteria are also difficult for most farmers because they involve guarantors and other requirements,” he stated.
However, the Commissioner for Information, Ahmad Sajoh, explained that the present government discovered that the N2 billion intervention funds were not meant to be loaned to farmers as claimed by their associations.
He said after studying the agreement documents signed with the CBN, the Ministry of Agriculture realised that the  money was to be used in boosting agriculture in the state
“The money was not for  lending to farmers, it was for boosting of agriculture including procurement of tools for farmers. The present government decided that since there is a component that involves purchase of tools, why not give the money to farmers to buy those tools, so the government allocated N280 million to irrigation farmers through micro finance banks. More funds will be allocated for wet season farming. The remaining N1 billion is intact and will be utilised for improvement of agriculture,” he stated. 
Sajoh denied allegations that the involvement of politicians in the scheme would politicize the process, saying legislators and commissioners nominate beneficiaries to make sure all constituencies were covered.