From Theresa Egba, Abuja
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, has refuted allegation that he and some Ministry officials removed N2 billion from the N20 billion paid to agro dealers that participated in the 2014 Growth Enhancement Support Programme (GES).
The Minister, while briefing journalists in Abuja, expressed shock over the allegation maintaining that the money was handled by the Ministry of Finance and disbursed to the agro dealers by the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF).
He explained that he got the feelers from the social media, where an allegation was made that the Ministry paid N15 billion out of the N20 billion released for the agro dealers, and that he together with the Minister of State and Permanent Secretary shared N2 billion.
Ogbeh pointed out that the debt of N37 billion was inherited from previous administration, and the agro dealers were complaining that they could not operate because of the debt owed to them by the Federal Government. “And the Federal Government was gracious enough to pay N20 billion of a total of N67 billion out of which N37 billion was owed to the agro dealers we met with the Ministry,” he said.