3 0 Nlg~~11\Jt r (frU1tJhe
Wedne:::d'lY, 21 September, 201 I
Jonathan is right on single term propopsal- Yusui t~ I ~llltl~d\i YU'llf I' ,I i\1l'I"L\~1 of 11ll' Hnll'" of i<l't'Il'-l'I\I,\I\I'l'S f~PI""'"IiH~ ~'lb\lJ 1J'l~l1nlll IllIl\1\1 ~l'dpI',,1 COIt_hllll'tic'Y, ktl)11 Stilt" In 11\151,,1"11 leI}' wltlt ..1,> Rts~~~e tJartll!t, he cillt\tli~ his \'1l'W tlh tlil1 prt1t'0~l'd si l1g\ti ll,tm tellllrl~ fhll ,!~' J'ldll' " t "gisr~1'.~ IIgl'hd,t Hltd tIHt~f_i!:'!..Ut" oj 1\~_ll,-,-1l111IHltt~'1
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"lA T role do you think the
Hou~e
of Representa li ves $llOu! d play in selling dIe f eel of NisP.ri.a on the rigllt parI in th e presenf legislati ve session? I d Oll' 1bi!1iew the re is any major constraint the COllPtry is facing . Like any huma)1 system, there are bound to Ue certaill hu rdles that you need to scale. Yes, as legislators, we have basic roles to p lay and thi ~ is because Nigerians reposed ccnfid(nce in us. That is why the)' elected us; they know we can fix those dll\lIeng~ . I know that with lime, we will be abl~ to regain people's confi· dence and I thinl~ we fi re wo rking in the rig ht direction. Don' t forget tha i we now have the people's Speaker (or the first time and that is a good glollnd for us tt' take off. We set an agend<l (or ourselves : we thoro ughly debpted ii, and are ready for action. I thi nk if you plan, you are about 3Q per cent set tc attain s uccess. So w hat you do with the p lan w ill determine 70 per cent resul ts.
Don't you tlJink that tile bad image of tJle previous NatJona l Assembly will have a nega Uve im· pact on the g ood intention of tile present Hous ~? There is no'JOdy who wo uld be shown love and will not appreciate it.
If Nigerians see a good product, I am s ure they w ill appreciate iI . So, what we need to do is to get it ri ght. The sixth Nlliional Assembly, don' t forge t, tried its best. It worked, but the crisis it had overshadowed the good works by members. Whal we must do now is to paddle our canoc away (rom storm, and w hen the storn' comes, how do we effectively manage it? It is no t possible for a House of 360 peo ple from diHere nt back· grounds not to have initial hiccu ps. The House of Representati ves has always been the same anywhere in the world . The vibrancy should always be there. Yet, it is lert for us not to deviate from our areas of focus and basic legis· lative age nda. We h ave a d estination and an agenda of wh .. t we promised to attain by the end of our four years' lenure and we shou ld be there. What is yo ur view on the pro-
posed six-year single term for the president and governors? I s upport it, but unfortunately, the majority of those who opposed it hi....e not critically ponder over Ihe issues; it has been mo re of emotions and yo u don' t blame the people. They are used to being lied to all the time. The gove rn m ent w ill tell you it is go ing to Kadu na, w hereas it is really heading to Lagos. So, nobody is looking at the
issu es; the me rits and demerits. I want to se e more constructive debate o n that issue, notwithstanding that it is com ing lrom the president. Nigerians should not thro waway the baby and the bath water. I s upport the proposal fu lly, but o n cond itio n that it is for the genuine interest of N igeria and that it w ill no t be an attempttoseocl usona jourI ney to Damascus, while the president has his own rou te. He had reiterated that he would nol be a benefidary of the single L ___ ___~~~--~-~-=-----term agenda, and I feel we -Tajudeen Yusuf should take him by his wo rd . mission in his first term. I support the Single-term agenda; it Why do you think some Nigeriwill discourage the second term {ever, in ans are opposing th e proposal? which c<lse a governor, for instance, O ne Ihing about this country is that would be preparing for second tenn m ost people don't bother to critically w hen,. indeed, he is yet to accomplish his analyse issues before they ju mp to conclusions. TIley orten times trea t or view issues with suspicion . Indeed, N igerians are expecting something different iel711 f~m the president.
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"It will discourage the fever. " second
Agriculture ' on path of revolution in Bomo
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LTHOUGH Governor Knshim did not men lion the . ag r icult ura l sector in his p rogramme of f etion proposed for his 100 days in orA':\! which is centred on education, heaHh, water and set:utity, Carmers in the sfate S,1Y that the governor, as an Agricultu ralist, has not forgotten them in lim' with his drea m for a better Bomo Sta ~e . The (Mmers ~aid since the past eight years of democracy, they had not enjoyed the kind of govemment patronage th;'lt they are no'N enjoying. The governo r, according t(. them- had ensured the of fertilizer a nd tractors to I the , .
Shetli~'l
began. Most farm e rs w h o spoke w ith GtunJI in Maidugurl, the Borno State capital, said the only lime Ihey always saw tractors and fertilizers during the last administration was in Aug ust or Septembe r, during w h ich time they wo uld be awa iting the h .. rvest o f their crops. O ne farme r, Baba Jibrin, said, " We a re not surprised that all these came shortly afte r the present governo r assumed office; the gove rnor is a man of integrity who always wanls to sce that he fulfil s rus promise to the people. "We know that his vision and promise to the people of Bomo Stilte, espedally concerning what he planned to adlieve in 100 days in oHice, shows th01t he is focussed and will bring the necessary changes in deve lo pment in the state. We are not surprised that we are beginning to enjoy some of tile promises, as farmers. ~ To boost ranners' yield and su pport the Nat io na l Fo od Security (NFS) scheme in Barno State. the Bom o State govem or had launched the distri bution and 5.11e o f fertilizer to fa rmers at s ubsi· di zed r;'ltes o f N I,900 and N2,OOO per bag. Launching the fertili zer sale and distribu tion initiative in Gwoza a t the emir's palace, the governor lamented that the " massive dive rsion" of farm input had seriously affected the implementation of NFS a nd denied farmers access to fe rtilizer and o ther farm in· pu ts. He said this year's fertili7.er sale and distribution were launched with a
The first 100 days in office by the governor of Barno State, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, went w ith notable achievements, espedafly in the agricultural sector. James Bwal", who spok,· with farmers in the state, reports their impression of the government's programmes in the sector. total of 18,000 met ric to ns or 280,000 bags of the commodi ty, com p ris ing Urea and NPI(. which he said wou ld be sold at official s ubsidized rates of not more than N2. 0Cl0 a bag. Shetlima added that 40,000 IH res of herbicides were also procured to help fanners to fi ght the tough g rasses tha t impeded the growth and maturity of crops and citruses. He charged all traditional rulers to supervise and monitor the sale and distribution of the two farm in· puts in their domains. Speaking in an interview with Gamj~ the chaifln ... n of Diu Local Government Area, Alhaji Yusuf Adamu, said agriculture, being one of the priorities o f Ihe government unde r Shetli ma's admi n· istration, would continue to receive the needed attention in the yea rs ahead, even as efforts were being mllde to provide farming implements to farmers for increased p roduction in lIext year's fa rming season. Said he, "W:e are happy that the gove rnment was able to secure fertilizers for the benefits o f our f<lfmers. It will boost produ ction and b ring about bumper harvests, as we always record here. In ou r council, we encourage every beneficiary of the gestu re to make judicious use of il to affect the li ves of many families in this are~ "
Some o f the benefiCIa ries in BIU, w ho s poke to Camji, said the go"er~ nor, who had prev iously served as a commissioner in the Ministry of Agriculture ar,d who knew w hat ;t meant 10 the people of Borno State, had made provision for the farming season in the state long before the season bega n . According to them , he h ad ;'Ilso made good his promi se to p rovide 600 tracto rs for di stribution to a ll local gove rnm e nt ftreas in the s ta te . . Alhaji Hussaini Kida, a farm er in Biu Local Government Area, told Gamjithat the governor h"d promised to procure more tractors, such that by the time Ill' aHa ins o ne or two years· in office, he would ha"'e been in the ~t position to provided at least 50 tractors for eadl of the local government areas in the state, which will be s ufficient for the need s of the fanners. " We ha\'ealready slarted seeing these promises coming to fu lfilment. And fertilizer has also been procured and distribut~ to local governments. Here in Biu, we ha,'e received more than 10 truck loads of rertilizer and also, lhere are arT<lngements to bring chemicals, which may even haveam"ed by now, given that fllrming has assumed another dimension," he explai ned.