Re: In Katsina, 8 farmers share one bag of fertilizer
As a resident of Katsina who is also familiar with the development in the state, the report, on sales of fertilizer in Katsina credited to one Yusha’u Ibrahim and published in Sunday Trust edition of August 14, 2011, is a misrepresentation of facts. In the said report, the writer said, “In Katsina, 8 farmers share […]
As a resident of Katsina who is also familiar with the development in the state, the report, on sales of fertilizer in Katsina credited to one Yusha’u Ibrahim and published in Sunday Trust edition of August 14, 2011, is a misrepresentation of facts. In the said report, the writer said, “In Katsina, 8 farmers share one bag of fertilizer”, and he attributed the development to ineffectiveness of government’s machinery in the state. It is also sad to note that despite this distortion in the report, the state government chose not to respond to the allegation.
In order to set the record straight, there is need for those of us who are stakeholders in the state, to inform the larger society outside Katsina, the giant strides of this simple and un-assuming governor of Katsina-state. Because of the Sunday Trust publication, it has become imperative to take cursory look at the Katsina state’s agricultural policy implementation.
Contrary to the report, Katsina state is probably the only state in Nigeria where the state government launched the sales of fertilizer twice during one planting season. Apart from the earlier one, the state government also recently launched the second round of the sales of fertilizer in all the 34 local government areas for this farming season.
A bag of fertilizer costs about N6,000 in the open market, but Katsina State government subsidized it to N1,700 per bag. About 40,000 metric tons of fertilizer were purchased by the state government at the cost of about N6,000 each. This expenditure is only for the purchase of fertilizer for one planting season. In reality, with the meager resources of the state, no government can purchase for distribution the required quantity of fertilizers needed by the farmers at the subsidized rate.
It is not only the selling price of the fertilizer at the cost of N1,700 per bag that is fascinating, but the mode of distribution. For instance, a 40,000 metric tons of fertilizer were for distributed to farmers. The fertilizers were shared to all the 4,899 polling units in the state. At each polling unit, there was a community based committee for sharing and allocation of the fertilizer to the farmers residing within that polling unit.
It was announced to the public the quantity of fertilizers allocated to each polling unit with GSM numbers attached for complaints in case, the quantity delivered at the polling units did not correspond with the quantity announced by government. It is a known fact that even critics of Governor Shema have not been able to fault this transparent posture.
For those who have been following developments in Katsina State, it is a known fact that the state government purchased 340 tractors which were delivered to the government at the beginning of the year before the general elections. It is also instructive that the governor refused to play politics with the distribution of the tractors, hence he suspended the distribution till after the elections. In many states, such a project would have been used as a bait to woo farmers’ support at the polls.
Today, irrigation in Katsina is second to none in the northern region. Several dams were rehabilitated, not as ‘political ploy or window dressing,’ but they were rehabilitated to the functioning capacity and the delight of the rural farmers.
A case study is Jibia irrigation dam which was abandoned for the period of 29 years with the farmers cultivating 100 hectares of land out of 3500 hectares capacity of the dam. But within two years of intervention of Governor Shema’s administration, the farmers at the Jibia irrigation site of the dam are now cultivating the 3,500 hectares of the farm land. This is a statement of fact that is known to all stakeholders in Katsina.
It is not out of place to criticize constructively any political office holder for his or her action, but it must be done devoid of sentiment, bias and ulterior motives, if our sole target and aim is to have a better Nigeria. In Katsina State, there is general consensus among the populace that Governor Ibrahim Shema has performed creditably well than any previous administration in the state. Since he became governor, he has made governance corruption-free, responsive and people-friendly with his focus on good governance and service to humanity.
The former ICPC Chairman, Justice Emmanuel Ayoola, who was in Katsina in 2009 for a town hall meeting, after his tour of projects executed by the state and local government councils, could not hide his feeling when he submitted that he was “extremely sure that there is hope for Nigeria in the fight against corruption and the institutionalization of good governance. Not quite long, Governor Shema was again selected by the ICPC to deliver a lecture on transparency and accountability. His selection according to the ICPC was based on the wonderful efforts of his administration in meeting the challenges of leadership.
Also, in May 2010, Governor Shema was again recognized as having done extremely well in the service of his people and was a guest of the Nigeria-US Bi-National Commission during which he discussed extensively the experience of the state in ensuring good governance in a federal system. There is need to also mention that the Commission invited only two out of the 36 Governors in the country, Governor Shema and Lagos state Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola who is also noted to be doing well in his state.
We should condemn any attempt to destroy the few committed and dedicated leaders in our midst, so that evil will not triumph over good in a country where citizens are crying for good governance.
Mohammed wrote from Jikamshi St, Kofar Kaura Layout, Katsina, Katsina State.