By Yusuf Idris Gusau
Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara has announced the distribution of 135 trucks of fertilizer to the state’s farming community, which was flagged off last Tuesday but left many unanswered questions on the lips of the people.
According to a release that trailed the flagging off, 81,000 bags of the commodity will be distributed to a total of 40,500 farmers free of charge but failed to state how the beneficiaries would be identified or selected at a time when the wet season farming has gone more than halfway into the rainy season.
Most importantly, since such fertilizer fell under the federal government’s NG-Cares program, where’s the fertilizer that the state government bought for its farmers to even buy at subsidized rate.
Nigerian citizens are aware how the federal government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration distributed hundreds of trucks of fertilisers to states for distribution to farmers, Zamfara State inclusive.
The governor failed to inform people of the state how many trucks Zamfara State received from the federal government during the launching in order to appreciate President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s agricultural transformation policy as being done by various state governors.
As citizens of Zamfara State, we never knew. When was there any bidding for the contract for the supply of fertilizer to the state and at what cost and quantity is the product to be supplied.
The government also failed to inform the people of the state when the executive council approved for the supply of fertilizer, nor has there been any information regarding the state House of Assembly indicating any knowledge of this magnitude.
Then we saw the governor on Channels TV announcing that the farmers could now freely access their farmlands because his government has improved the security situation in the state.
This is callously ridiculous because more farmers have now, more than ever before been barred by the increasing number of bandits from getting to their farms.
The governor while sitting in the comfort of his luxuries, does not seem to know or care about the plight of the people but is using rogue journalists, rogue media outlets and rogue social media handlers to send out false information always.
As a party, the All Progressives Congress APC in the state is taking note of all the happenings in Zamfara government activities, and we shall as always keep the citizens abreast.
By Yusuf Idris Gusau
APC Publicity Secretary
Zamfara State
