investigat ion 8
SUNDAy.eTRUST 5uoo.y, October 21, 2012
BIG STOBY
'There'll be poor harvest in Taraba this year' governmm t area. ArOO Kola, for eumple The~ a~ OV'C'r 7,611 ¥k1ims th~ among whom arc ),762 IDP'I Now Ihi. plac:e is Jarrdy agrarian, just hke E'Yff)'WhetC dK In the stile AIIn(MI ali lhe fannland. here have been 1wqJ! off ThaI place is now faced with the prospccu O{. (armine.. We ba\~ doK 10 5O~. lf}'OU look ... all these flgurts. JOU would .pte with metbat it isonrwhclming.
Taraba state's Commissioner for Information, Mr Emmanuel Belio, said the
state is one of the worst hit in the flood cri sis rocking the natio n. and thi s could lead t o famine. Excerpt:
So wh y h..,e you not made the A. Ilu I bdieve It is partly bccallJe of the low publicity and may be tht totl o( InlCfUt lobbying ~ arC' not used to doing In Tanba. The problem is howt'f'tI g1arinl and WI thout even $boullng too much aboul!t, ~ ,houId mUK thai T.... ba would ha..e been ","ont hit.. 8«aUK _ arC' an agrvIan Siale We: also haY(' fish We an abo doinl nnyt hlng to devc:1op our tourism potmllab. So Ihis is ¥CI"J'dcva.tlltlng.
By Ism.i1. Adebaro our MailE U Aid to H La ~ - 8 " alt~o( .I.t~ h it by thb f]ooclJ.. b tha i the true pk turet Wdl. TanbanJ an: vny J11Ilcful
Y
to P~lEni GoodJud: jonathan for coru1dmnl \U as • bmdkiM}' of the funch meant (or flood rictinu. We got the N400 million meant (or atates In the -B-c:akpy. And we are cunentiy UJI"I it 10 brin& bKk hope" 10 lhow hit by this dlsuln-. H.vi", Mid that, lhe truth b th.t Tanh. Stale 110M ohhe wont hi! placcsln the country lllls b not dillkuh 10 ~ Ant. lhe state has the longeR ruttch of Rivn Ben~ RiYn Iknuc
Wh.1 an you thell doinlabout lit We sot the runds from the federal go¥'CITlIIlent and ~ now have three maim
may hi"" been named titer BenuCSC.lt, but
tM bulk. the- JonteM JCtt1ch of that rfvoer b In Taabf, State. And It runs throua,houl lhe
....
So you can imagine the amount of devaJtaUons It would CflutC us as the tide rllel.. Many town$ and comm uniUa an: lituatcd lIon, th it tlvtt. Many of than hi"" been submnJed We ha\l\' hundrcdt of
thousands of lnte:malJy Dbp!aad Penom. The ltalhtia an Kal"f. EYUI the praidtnt acknowlcdJCd the magnitude' I'm spcaklng
.,
He was almoat I1lO\'ed 10 Inn i.n the camp he \'\sited and whtn he spoke. JUU could ace he was ftI"'T touched. In Taru,., ~ s lmrlr have. Katrina-Iilu: aluatMm on our hands. Markets. cu1vttts. Iivatocb,
• EmlNlnuet Bello bridges..JChools. chun:bcl. mosques, roads. dinla and 1&rF hectares o( farmlandJ had
all been washed away. We arc a state of 16 kKaI government una. Nine out of theK have becn badly affected. The worst thinl it the prospcd of'. famine b«aUJC flshing pondJ ha~ been washed away and fumen no longer ha..e fvnu 10 10 to. Take one loa!
The worst thing is the prospect of a famine because fishing ponds have been washed away and farmers no longer have farms to go
comnullca worlullg round the doc.. k 10 nuu~ !hal flood vkllfm are well laken CIIre of 1bc depuly gm"ttnor ollhe Slate iJ In dalJC of the main commttlte When he was inaugurating the commilltc' (;.o,vnor Danbaba Oanfulani Suntat said the job wu aclually one fOf evrryonc in the lIate He E'I"m Jaid that the commisliorlen .nd adv-aKn dwuld taU mon~ from thtlr pocktts to help the Y\cllnu.. Itre5linglhat II was II()I. JUS! a job fOt" SEMA But SEMA 100 tw been dTC:Clive Before they got the funds from tho!, fnlua! JOVttnmml, SF-Mil. In conjunction WIth NF_MA had done ita best. Bul the 'IOIume of this crlsu Is enormous. Evom at the federal ICTd, the pre:sldmt hu co me: up wilh Ihe Oangole body II is our hope thl! the Danpte te.m would ..ubi Ta" in more: waT' than one
But wh. t II the HSUJ"&nce tha t the ¥idlml would l et the llceded usitl. ncc from the:sc fundi.. Our JO¥'Cfnor Wall ¥fty empmtk about thlt. He Mld he would pcnonall)' monitor the monE'f and II would be strictly ustd for what it is mrant.. So _ are monitoring the: funds 10 ClUUre judkious dtspcnAtkJn. Besides, we have chuted the media 10 be the nsk eyes u ~ 10 IIbout udng the fund$. II would be acen u olinl blood money for anyone to misaprroprialE thiJ money. That II why OUI rdief matcrial commillce tw mapped out all it wanl,lo buy ransml from rarm Implcmcnu to oooIung utensils We are ~ Flinl AshinS nets and hooks We also Intend 10 Jive rnI cuh 10 houKhoIdt to see If they an IWI bulldms thcl.r U¥a .galn. Anyone who touchet; this kind of money II qu&Jifkd to be ailed '" mw'derEI People arc Plffcrlns and I bdlc:ve no one would be wicUd as 10 embct.z.lc that JOfI 0{ money,
Food crisis: No grains in over N140bn silos across Nigeria (Of1td. from ~ 7 bas not bousht pains from farmn1 and WE don'I know what will happen thil ynr beOluw fIoodJ haVE washed .way many mml.mds. We (ur that th~ may be no surplus pm.. nft\ all the Wallo silos an .waltlng commbskmlng. The siaff added that tometlma .dlos are used to keql pilgrim. lulPF after theil relum (rom pfIgrnmge in Saudi Anbialn order to aecun thdr propertioeI. HO'WOtt, tht: SUlci Information Offiur Ministry of Agriculture, Alhaji Abdu Sale said "In B.lKld State all ow lib are functioning and pttnment purchucd gnilU aitef harvut. and ~ are now In the period ofhanatinJ crops.,. In Kaduna Stale, silos buill lin« 2009 have been lying emrtr Thlff yean; aner ... commwXKIIDJ. Jht: one In A"llRn MaiJim. lama'a Local Goftmmmt Am, Birnln Gwvt in 81min Gwarl LGA and that In Saminilb In l.cte LGA ha~ been abandoned. A rukic:nt of Angwan MatgRo. one Nuhu Ba.... had complained 10 our COITeIpOndcnt thus· "'No lingle grain had been stored hen' linee the commisdonlns In Fflwuuy 2009, The few hap of grains which ""'Cfe iodscd for lallng during the commissioning have deayed. We lRnt GowmoI' Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa to awinJ Into action by enslUing that work
commmca al the IlIos b«aUJC lhe: problem moM fllfm('f'$i.n K-duna State have II ladr. places 10 sto~ they uceu produce, A lot set _ted along the line. The piKe that II supposed to hetp the rumen prCKJTC their food had been tak.m 0Wtt by II'UtC:S. These wdl. planned flowen In tho: pnmlses of the vain ai10s arC' now iosI nl ma~ u the
ndnlly ls gradualty bc:c.omlng mfe:sted with ,nUes,.SImMy Tnul learned that of the: 21 staff employed 10 worlt lithe lrains centre, only one elderly nwl, • K'CUrilY guard, Is remaining'" hls post.. Othen had left In ~arch of grcc:ntr pastures. lusl as It it In Bauchi and Kaduna, so
Is the story or the ,1JOt; built In many other wtcs. Sunday r,wt j ma:u rnnkd thai the t.ikN In Malturdi, Jknue Stale, It on: gnUns far below III capacity The Jik>s in l..afia, Nuara,q Stile arc still under cOlUlruclion. In Eltni SUle. the one coruuuctcd Uonl the
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