Adamawa gov, Muhammed Jibrilla bars allocation of fertilizer to politicians

AS part of government efforts to ensure that fertilizer getsto genuine farmers, Governor Muhammed Jibrilla of Adamawa State, has barred allocation of fertilizer to politicians in the state.Governor-JibrillaThis came as the Governor flagged-off the construction of a 37 kilometer Kiri—Shelleng road project abandoned 40 years ago.Announcing the ban while flagging-off this year’s cropping season sales of fertilizer, the governor said: “There is no more allocation of fertilizer to politicians in Adamawa. The era of allocation is over, we want real farmers to get the commodity not politicians”, insisting that this season fertilizer would be distributed at ward levelsto genuine farmers irrespective of political party.According to him: “We are going to start with the deployments of fertilizer trucks to all the 226 wardsin the state. We have subsidized it by N1,500; so a bag will now sell atN5,500.”The governor noted that his administration would supply other farm inputs alongside 10 tractors per each to the 21 local governments of the state, noting “I want to comment local government councils for their effort in purchasing 109 tractors out of which 50 had already arrived.”Earlier, Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Ahmadu Waziri, said government had ordered 15,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer tobe sold directly to farmers at ward levels.Speaking, representative of farmers who is also the state chairman of All Farmers Association of Nigeria, AFAN, Alhaji Abbo Jiddere, lauded government for the gesture, saying,“It seems fertilizer is not going to be a problem this season. We are getting from the state government as well as from the Anchor Borrowers programme supported by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).”In another development Governor, Muhammadu Jibrilla weekend flagged-off the construction of a 37 kilometer Kiri—Shelleng road project abandoned for the past 40 years.Speaking at the ceremony in Kiri village, Jibrilla said he considered the project historic in view of several failed attempts made by successive government to construct the road.He said: “It is on record that the first attempt at constructing a roadto Shelleng when it was under Guyuk Local Government Area in 1996 actually started during the civilian administration of Governor Abubakar Barde of blessed memory. Indeed, late General. Abdullahi Shelleng of blessed memory also made attempt, like former Governor Boni Haruna without success as well as Governor Murtala Nyako.“In fact, the drama of the construction of this important road resulted in catastrophic consequences leading to the accusation that politics of the construction of Kiri—Shelleng road is nothing but a conduit pipe of siphoning government funds or resources. ”Earlier, Commissioner for Works, Mrs Lilian Stephen, said the contract was awarded to Triacta Nigeria at the cost of N3.2 billion tobe completed  in two years  due to the difficult terrain.