In what many described as uncommon leadership traits, Nasarawa State governor, Abdullahi Sule personally supervised the distribution the free fertilisers allocated to the state by the federal government recently.
The fertilisers comprising of 50kg each of NPK and Urea were meant to ease the hardships been faced by local farmers as a result of the economic reality in the country, while also boosting food security.
In order to ensure that the products get to the intended beneficiaries, show presence and partcipated in the activities at every distribution points in all the local government headquarters across the country.
At each of the distribution point at the local government headquarters, the governor Sule ensured that he is on ground before the products were offloaded from the trucks that transported them to the areas before commencing the distribution.
No fewer than 100 farmers were selected from each of the 147 electoral wards of the state as beneficiaries.
The 100 beneficiaries were selected by a committee comprising of traditional rulers, state assembly members and political appointees including commissioners and special advisers.
The selection process was done irrespective of political, ethnic or religious inclinations even as the products were shared in the ratio of 80 NPK to 20 Urea per a ward.
Governor Sule used the opportunity of the event to show appreciation to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, for making the fertilizer available free of charge for onward distribution to farmers across the country as part of efforts to improve food security.
The credit goes first to Mr President Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu who directed that the Minister of Agriculture should liase with the Cehtral Bank of Nigeria to release the fertilizer in stock in order to be distributed across the 36 states at no cost to the states.
After the allocation, of course, the state government incurred several other expenses for logistics, for loading, off loading, warehousing and the rest of that. In our own state, we took it as our responsibility towards making sure that farmers get free bags of fertilizers without paying anything for it.
In addition, we felt and I personally felt that we should quickly go to every local government area and distribute these fertilizer to farmers so that; they are not diverted to individuals who are not farmers. That is the reason why I decided to come here by myself „ The governor narrated.
Despite his efforts however, there were reports of diversion in Toto local government area which understandably drew his ire.
Out of 1, 200 bags sent to the local government area for distribution to farmers, less than 500 were reportedly accounted for.
Irked by the development, he ordered an investigation into matter through the commissioner of police. He was to expand the scope of inquiry to also cover Doma and Karu local government areas respectively.
This investigation, outlined in a letter signed by the state’s Attorney-General, Barrister Labaran Shuaibu Magaji, has been described as a “serious matter that requires immediate attention to ensure that justice is served and the perpetrators are held accountable for their actions.”
As the report of the investigation is been awaited, many have hailed the governor ‚s handling of the exercise.
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