THE NATION, 15 AUGUST, 2012

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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15,2012

Page 13

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'Do not hijack farmers' fertiliser'

T

HE f1itinister for Agriculture, Or Akinwumi Aaesina, has

ca utioned against hijacking subsidised fertilis ers meant for farmers.

He lold growers in the Southwest to be wary of those he called " fertiliser merchants" who ilre desperate to rob them of their

su~~~ ~t~Su~'hat s uch merchants in the past frustrated the efforts of about 89 per cent of farmers in the Southwest to access

From Ernest Nwokoto, Abeokula fertilisers meant for them, but he added that the Ministry is equally making things difficult for the unscrupulous merchants.

The Minister said those political fertiliser dealers were used to buy ing the Federal Governmentsubsidised fer1ilisecsat cheap prices and ferrying them to the North and the Republic o f Benin for sale 011 "exorbitant prices."

He added that since the Federal

Governmen t would no longer be involved in procurement of fertilisers, there would be no more avenue for the sabotage th ai fed the unpatriotic business.

Adesina said the fertiliser merchants' new a ntics enlail going 10 the farmers directly and telling them thai the fertilisers are nol good for their soil or crops.

Adesina spoke to reporters in Ogbere.

Ijebu-East Local Governmen t Area, Ogun Slate, during the distribution of

subsidised fertilisers, NPK and Agrol ysers. to cocoa farmers in the area.

11 was in furtherance of the G row th Enhancement Support (GES) programme for cocoa under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (fATA) of the Federal Government.

The Minister who was represented ill the OIXilSion by the

Southwest Regional Director, Federal Ministry of Agricultull! ilnd Rural Development. Dr Talabi Julius Odeyemi. said the Federal Government has - Continued on Page 47

HIS lift] the heart of cardiac ·)atients. At Ad~zi NnlJ,kw\l commuruty in },.nambra :,tate, Governor Pet-!l' Obi has laid the foundalion of a heart diagnostic centl"'!. The facility, whClSl" cost is put at N6Om. 15 sited at SI, 'O!.ep h's H ospital, Adazi-Nnllkwu.

That is not t h'!' only proiecl thai is shapmg up In the community. The foundation blocks o f a N150m Medical Ser v ice Comolex have also been set thele. The Obi administriltiojl has provided N90m out of :-h~ total cost of both facilities.

The diagnos tic named afte r Dr. Joe brings much Cheer to of heart

C<lvemor Ot i ;.aid Centr e is in Ih 'JnOur Nwailo, an ~ H l igene town and ren·)wned sura,eon who promised to viSit the s ta I" annually to provide free H!!~lth services.

The Ho..-pi~ r.ianager, Rev. Fr. Charles Ib ! kwe. in his address, rec~l£d that Obi is the flrst gov lor since 1978 to partner \ it 1 Miss ion Hospita ls . dl!mons trating commitment I;) healthcare del..ivery i n the s ta te. H e thanked the 0 !emor for his sustained sUJI 'ort over the years. He d' d;)Sed that the students' el the governor sponsore-(I is nearing completion while their moaern la bJrf tory is now functional. t.{iss Ogoch lkwu Ezenwaka and Miss Pa ct-lina Agwo\le were among Jh·! peopfe who praised the ~ J \ ernor for his efforts. TIler Hid God was using him '0 reduce the suffering of the people. TIley also prom isPlJ to utilise the

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oGov. Peter Obi laying the found,lUon of Nwiloh Hem Diagnostic Cenln at th e StJoseph Hos pila.l AduJ -Nnukwu

A lift for heart patients Obi lays foundation for N60m facility n Community hails effort rebuild collapsed structures and

II

From Odogwu Emeka Odogl¥u, Nnewl fadlities provided at the institution by the Obi administration to make the best of Uleir studies.

Governor Obi equally presented a cheque of NSm to Bubendorff Memorial Grammar

School, Adazi-Nnukwu to commence the rebuildin g of its dilapidated stru c ture. Obi presented the cheque during a visit to the school. accompamed by some top government officials.

Presenting the cheque, he said the gesture was in line with the policy of his administration to

c reate conducive learning environment for the children. He enjoined the school manasement to work hand in hand With the Parents Teachers Association and the Town Union to execute the project.

The Prindpal of Ihe school, Sir Andy Obi , in his address Jamented that over the 40 years

THENATlON WEDNESDAY,AUGUST 15,2012

NEWsatEa 'Do not hijack farmers' subsidised fertiliser' - Continued from Page 13 designed a new strategy to monitor and supervise fertiliser distribution channds to ensu re that only genuine and regis tered (ilrmen acct'SS the input5 (luring this yea r's planlinli sellson.

He saId: "They are trying other means, but then it can neve r be same with them anymore; even the farmers, we: a re drumming it inlo our farmers that they should not allow the fertiliser merchants to come to them, who would offer them a token, only to take it somewhere else losel at exorbitant prices; we now raising the alarm and a re monitoring the dislribution at every redl'!mption ct'fltre.

"In the PlSt the Federal Government chose to p rocure fertilisers and would ask s lates to indicillte the fertilisers and the quantity they would need for a year [or the {aflJlers and then the Federal

Governmen t would go ahead and procure the fertilisers and upon arrival, it would be sent to all the s ta tes based on what they have indicated for and it is assumed tha t the fe rtilisers will get to the farmers but unfortwlately we found out tha t only 11 per cent of the farme rs act ually have access to these fertilisers. "'The rest which Is about 89 per cent do not get fertilise rs. What happened to the b ul k of the fertilisers? As we are: loading it into the s tores, people I call fert iliser merchants come and purchase them in bulk and carry it to the North.

And not only to the North but also across the borders to sell, and that is why th e cu lture of u s in g fertilisers have not been entrenched in the farmers, because Ihey have not bern getting it. ~ I will just advl~ Our filmlus to really m~t up ~o expectllltion .and heed to InstructiOns that are gwen

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As we are loading fertilisers into the stores, people1 call fertiliser merchants come and purchase them in bulk and cany them to the North, and not only to the North but also across the borders to sell ~

. Continued from Page 13 administra tion was determined to restOre the lost glory of t he education and health sectors.

A t Girls High School Agulu, Obi said th e deplo rable condi ti on of facilities in the sch ool was unacceptab le to government and attributed it to ihe &"ross neg lect by s u ccessive prevIOus administrations since the government's forcefu l takeover after the civil w ar.

Obi remembered the family members of the 12 AdazlN n ukwu victims of Boko Ha..-am

10 them; they should no t allow the fertiliser merchants todeceh'e them and lake their fertilisers away. We are telling them the propriety of using fert11iser and that IWi becOme vuy important, because without it Ihecrops will not do well," he said.

Aexordin g to h im, the fertilisers being distributed to (anne" in the state a re being subsidised joinUy by th e Federal Government and the

Ostun Stale government. fi e noted that the two tiers of government hal'e je ttisoned polit ica l differences and are working in partnership to help the farmers access cheaper fertiltsers, boost their produce fo r the development and grow th of their families and the nation. " Hunger does not know politics, 50 this one transcends political

A lift for heart patients s laughter. They were gi ven c heques of Nlm each totaling N 12m.

The other t wo vic tims, from Agu lu a nd Azigbo in Nnew i SOuth were ~ua lly given simila r sums. The cheques given to the Boko HiH"iI m victims so far totaled N28m from A n ambra and Adamawa sta te governments.

Presenting th e Cheques at Saint A n drews' Catholic Church, Adazi-Nnukwu, Obi, in a n

emotion laden voice, said each of the famili es of Adazi-Nnukwu 12 wou ld receive Nlm t o ena ble them live a m eaningfu l life, having lost (heir breadwinners. " We are fulfilling o ur p romise of N2m each 10 fa m ilies of the vic tims . We ha ve given them N lm e a c h before and we a r e redeeming the la s t segm e nt of (he p romise from Anarribra Sta le government and Adamawa State governmen t because the people must have faith in govemmenl...we have give.n the Ca th o lic Churc h In AdaziNnukwu NlSOm in investment in it s St Jose ph 's Ca th olic H os pita l and the s t r u ct ure we built there fo r students h ostel is worth N60m. I promised to put NIOm in this church and I have given N4m befo re . Today I am giving another N2m to t aling N6m.

Obi appealed to the community n o t to look at the victims to use the m o ney in payin g numerous levies either in the cllUrch o r in th e village but to se r ve as a means o T getti n g some thing m eaningful for the sustenance of the people left behind by th e victims. " In N ige r ia t o da y a n ybody with N2m that is organised can build a meaningful life. I don't do party but T use money to do worK tha t it is meant fo r," he said.

Parish Priest of the Church, Rev Fr Dr Peter Onyeso informed the governor o f t h eir centena ry anniversary com ing up in November for which ttief n eeded m Ore money to fi nt s h th e expansion p roject of the chur ch but thanked h.im fo r donating NIOm. Natio n al Vice President o f Adazi N nu kwu Town Union, Chief Alex Obia di on beha lf of th e famili es o f the victims thanked Obi fo r being a man of his wo rd s in ful nlling the promise of N2 million to each of th e vic t ims' families as a

consolat ion to (heir li vin g fam ily m embers.

For the Paris h P r iest Sai n i Mathews Anglican Chu r ch, Amawbia, Rev. Fr. Jonas Okoye who doubles as the Secretary of Ca th olic Diocesan Finance Co un ci l, Obi h as spent over N I 50m in only catholtc interests in Adaz i Nnukw u excludi n g o th e r Cath olic interests in the comm uni t), and state at large.

He thanked him for the e rosion control project in the community and his coura ge in hand ing over schools to the mission.

He appealed to him to hand over Burbendoff G rammar School , Adazi-Nnukwu to the Ca tholic Church even tho ugh it is no t owned by the Church since communit y 15 o ne commu nity Catholic dlurch to enable them

leaning!., o t he rw ise the stat. goverrunef t. Os!:un. bein~ ActiO! Congrf'S.j .,f Nigeria (ACN) slate, and the FeJera.I Government banr a P~plel ')emocratic Party (PDP) would not have collabo..-ated. Bu' we are luc.,y lhat all the govemor: have pllt .side their political differenCt 5 and e mbrace thi ! agric ul tural Ira nsfo rmatior agenda:

take afptopdate ca re of the school as they have done othel"!. handed over to them. H p descr ib ~cI Obi as God-se nt to g ive dir ~tion to the state .

The ,I r chor -re r son of t he commw lity,l' ro KenNwogudic!j not agrEe with the transfer of the ownership o f BUrOOldoff 10 the Catholic Church but insisted Ob. would remember it in r ehabilitation as he does othel sch ools to restore its lost glory to avoid .julng the right thin @. w rongl v â&#x20AC;˘ " Buro endoff is not a Mission school hu t v. hat we are loohnf at is restering its 105t Slory .....

Prof Nwogu said Obi has buil, many 10das in the s tat e anc; Adazi-l>lllukwu, includin g o nc a l rea d r ea rm a r ked fOI co n s l n ... ctlon to open up th. commua iqr and o thers more. H( prayed that i1 good person take! over from Olti.

Obi renl$lb~lteq l the family meln;bE!Il$

Miqin'ls Boko They wel;'e gi\renrc!i,¢qlues

of Nlm ea,ch Itoti~~lgi Want to be on top of