By Okwe Obi
Aside nefarious activities of Boko Haram insurgents and herders-farmers’ clashes, other hiccups plaguing the agricultural sector are contract diversion, over bloated cost and poor execution.
Already, the outbreak of the deadly COVID-19, last year, significantly contributed to hunger as most farmers could not plant or harvest crops bountifully because of the lockdown imposed by the Federal Government to cushion the effect of the virus.
But the recent contract racketeering in the sector has corroborated the warnings of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFO), that Nigeria could experience severe famine.
In 2020, for instance, the Deputy Director of Procurement in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Musa Musa, on behalf of the Minister, Sabo Nanono, had approved N30 million for the construction of a ‘Friday Mosque’ in Borno State sequel to the approval of the ministerial tender board.
When the backlash became unbearable, Nanono, through the Director of Press, Theodore Ogazechi, claimed that the ministry decided to build the worship centre for livestock farmers displaced by Boko Haram insurgents in Borno State.
He had also claimed that other common facilities provided for the livestock farmers in the community included solar powered boreholes with overhead tanks and drinking troughs for cattle and small ruminants, water harvesting structures, milk collection centre, resettlement abode, as well as other unnamed infrastructure to settle and rehabilitate the displaced persons.
“To put the facts straight, the memo is authentic and appropriate in all ramifications. It is original and was issued by the ministry for the construction of a worship centre for a community of livestock farmers who were sacked and displaced in Borno State by Boko Haram insurgents and are being resettled in Ngarannam/Mafa Local Government, Borno State.
“Apart from the mosque, other common facilities provided for the livestock farmers in the community include solar powered boreholes with overhead tanks and drinking troughs for their cattle and small ruminants, water harvesting structures, milk collection centre, resettlement abode, as well as other infrastructure to properly settle and rehabilitate the displaced livestock farmers.
“The construction of the mosque was a special request from the community through the Borno State government to avoid moving too far from the settlement areas for prayers and also to ensure their safety and contact with the insurgents. The memo is an official document and it is available for public scrutiny and review. It is, therefore, unfortunate for anyone to presume that the memo leaked.
“The ministry is in no way perturbed about the matter because it received appropriate approval, carried out due needs assessment and ensured due process in the execution of the project. It is advised that in future, due diligence and restraint should be observed by our media friends before publication of this nature meant for public good and security, are issued to avoid raising false alarm and creating unnecessary rancour in the public space which may lead to overheating of the polity,” he said.
A former lawmaker who represented Kogi West Senatorial District, Senator Dino Melaye, had exclaimed: “What! Despite all the challenges facing food security, building a mosque is the Federal Ministry of Agriculture’s priority! To pray for rain or what? How did we get here for heaven’s sake? What has the government got to do with churches or mosques?”
Nevertheless, the National Coordinator of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), Emmanuel Onwubiko, contended that the ministry breached the law by deviating from its mandate of ensuring food security to religious matters.
Onwubiko argued that the explanation given by the Director of Information, Theodore Ogazechi, was not only lame but was provocative and an insult to Nigerians.
According to him, “it is unacceptable to deploy public fund to promote private religious pursuit of some people in a multi-religious and complex chain of nationalities that constitute Nigeria.”
He further stressed that the decision, apart from being discriminatory and offensive to Section 42 (1) of the Constitution breached Section 10 of the Constitution, which prohibits the elevation of any religion as the state religion.
“Section 10 of the Nigerian Constitution says: ‘The government of the federation or of a state shall not adopt any religion as state religion, of the Nigerian Constitution’.”
To balance the equation, he asked the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Nanono, to approve about N30 million each into two places for the building of a church to be used by displaced farmers in Benue State and a befitting shrine for use by African traditionalists who are farmers in any part of Southern Nigeria deemed appropriate by the farmers.
“We are giving the minister a week to approve the funds to build a church and a shrine or we will mobilise Christian farmers and farmers who are African traditionalists to file a suit against this obviously unconstitutional and discriminatory policy,” he submitted.
Even before the scandal, the Head of Service, Folashade Yemi-Esan, had queried two permanent secretaries, who served in the ministry, Abdulkadri Mu’azu and Mohammed Bello, of failing to pay eligible contractors despite budgetary allocation, a situation that led to an outstanding contractual liability in the sum of N48.4 billion.
According to her, an accounting officer procured seven deep drilling rigs for borehole at an average cost of N300 million without recourse to the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
“In April 2019, you gave out the seven rigs procured at over NI.3 billion to some individuals under fraudulent arrangements without the approval of the minister; and one of the rigs linked to you is yet to be returned despite several written reminders. You misapplied the intervention funds approved for the purchase of strategic grains and the establishment of the Rural Grazing Area Settlements in violation of extent financial regulations,” she added.
Moreso, the Assistant National Publicity Secretary of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Alhaji Salisu Mukhtar, worried that the mismanagement of funds had forced farmers to buy fertiliser especially PFI 20:10:10 for N9,500 which was sold for N5,500 because of the lack of subsidy.
Piqued by the ugly development, Mukhtar called on President Muhammadu Buhari to thoroughly scrutinise the sector and to ensure that funds allocated for specific projects do not disappear into thin air. In order to incentivise the farmers to continue the hardwork of providing food at an affordable price to the nearly 200 million Nigerians we appeal to the president to look into the activities of the ministry,” he added.
Kabiru Saidu, a tomato seller, said government should be deliberate in its quest to address looming food challenges. “I have no iota of doubt about the plan of government to ensure food security. But it must be deliberate. We should stop playing politics with everything. If you check tomatoes, pepper and even onions are getting expensive by the day. Farmers need subventions to get fertilisers and other inputs to boost food sufficiency,” he said.