We’re not probing Adesina – Agric minister

The Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has said that the federal government is not probing the immediate past agriculture minister, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina. Disclosing this on Tuesday at a press briefing in Abuja, Chief Ogbeh said the clarification was necessitated by recent media reports that the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GES) programme executed by […]

The Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has said that the federal government is not probing the immediate past agriculture minister, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina.
Disclosing this on Tuesday at a press briefing in Abuja, Chief Ogbeh said the clarification was necessitated by recent media reports that the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GES) programme executed by Dr. Adesina was under probe.
“I just want to make it quite clear to all of you. There is no probe of Adesina’s administration. If there is any reason to probe, we would have said that long ago. We never said we are probing Adesina, we are proud with his work and there will be no policy somersault,” he told journalists.
The minister said what the ministry was doing is verification of the bill given to it by the inputs suppliers, mainly seeds suppliers; who are claiming N10 billion.
“We told them that the N10 billion is too high and that we will verify their claims. Verification goes on all the time in government. Even Adesina verified claims during his time before paying, and that’s what we are doing,” he noted.
On the fears about continuity of the GES programme, Ogbeh said: “GES will continue as soon as the budget is approved.”
He pointed out that due to the lean nature of the 2016 agriculture budget, the ministry will be as prudent as possible to do a lot and expressed the hope that the budget will improve next year.