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  • ‘Why Surveyor-General attributes achievements to Buhari’

    Perhaps, his background has a lot to explain his unprecedented achievements. He is undoubtedly one of the most detribalised Nigerians ever to hold the the post of Surveyor-General of the  Federation. His name is Ebisintei Awudu, and he is one of few Nigerians who can stake a genuine claim to being from the far-north and the far-south.  Reason? From his paternal side, he is from Bayelsa, and he is a Borno man from his maternal side.

    When he was appointed to this office at the twilight of the Jonathan presidency, ethnic merchants were seriously taken aback. To their luck, the then President got defeated at the election of that year, and the winner was a northerner, in the person of Muhammadu Buhari. To these ethnic jingoistic therefore, it was only a matter of time before the new President give them what they desperately wanted: kicking Awudu out of office.

    But their optimism was the key indicator that they knew nothing about President Buhari, who, throughout his military career, has saved and promoted a countless number of Christian southerners.

    So when the matter of Mr. Awudu was brought to the attention of the newly-sworn-in President,  all he asked was whether the man was qualified for the job. He asked for evidence to that effect. As far as President Buhari was concerned, where the new Surveyor-General hails from was not even a matter for consideration. He needed someone who could do the job. And in Mr. Awudu, the President saw a clear round peg in a round hole; a man who is well educated, was surveyor-General of Bayelsa State, a director in the office he is heading, and a member of the prestigious National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru.

    The President wondered why anyone in his senses could even contemplate removing such a person from office just because he belongs to a minority tribe. It was to the blessing of this country that such a dispassionate persona is its Number One Citizen. And Nigeria is the best for it.

    But these enemies of progress will not allow peace to reign. They keep churning out everything – from the ridiculous to the disgusting – to smear Mr. Awudu all in their desperate quest to shove him aside and get their preferred lackey appointed in his stead. Unfortunately for them, the Surveyor-General is here to work, to make President Buhari and Nigeria proud.  He has no time for such frivolities. Or engage in war with anyone on account of where he comes from. As human, Mr. Awudu definitely has his limitations. But most often his mistakes are of the head, not of the heart. They are therefore forgive-able.

    For the Surveyor-General, the achievements of his office automatically translate into the achievements of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration because these achievements would have been impossible without budgetary allocations and releases. And without a President who regards the entirety of Nigeria (and not sections of it) as his constituency.

    Read Also: Buhari greets Prof David Ijalaye at 90

    For the uninformed , the Office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation is an extra–ministerial, career, pooling and Self Accounting office supervised by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing. In Nigeria. The Office is the nation’s apex authority in surveying and mapping and their related matters. The Surveyor General of the Federation (SGoF) is the Chief Executive Officer of the Office.

    The primary responsibility of the Office is the provision of requisite geospatial information needs of the country for sustainable national development, the co-ordination of all Surveying and Mapping and their related activities in the country.

    The staff strength of the office as at December, 2018 is Six Hundred and Eighty-Seven, with an approved establishment  staff strength of One Thousand and Seventy Four.

    Since the appointment of Mr. Awudu, the Office has been restructured and expanded into thirteen departments comprising ten technical departments, three service departments, nine units, six Zonal Directorates and thirty six state survey offices.

    The constitutional roles of OSGoF give rise to the following activities: Establishment of National geodetic Infrastructure including National GIS; and definition of all international and internal boundaries of the country. Other include the provision of all geospatial Information products such as administrative maps, topographical maps, electronic national atlas, gazetteer of geographical place names, road maps and other thematic maps, as well as execution of vital National and Peculiar surveys in collaboration with relevant Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the government. These peculiar

    surveys include time-lapse mapping of exploration and exploitation of solid minerals, oil and gas, forestry, other national resources and ecologically impacted areas such as desertification, gully erosion and land degradation. The office also handles the provision of Magnetic, Gravity, ROW, Geo-hazard and other special surveys for monitoring, guidance and decision making; provision of Cadastral/Legal Surveys of all Federal lands and properties; provision of training, supervision and research in Surveying and Mapping in collaboration with the academic institutions; provision of consultancy  services to all Government agencies and Ministries on Surveying and Mapping themes; serving as National Repository of all Geospatial data and information including Metadate, and finally, pooling of Surveyors in the Federal Civil Service.

    To achieve the constitutional responsibilities of the office, Surveyor Awudu has evolved some core strategies that has ensured some unprecedented achievements, including, but not limited to the expansion of the Office from six to twelve Technical Departments with the approval of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation. At present, the Office has Survey and Mapping Units in eight eight Ministries where it pooled 8 Resident Surveyors. Also, the Schemes of Service for Surveyors, Survey Technologists, Survey Technicians and Craftsman cadres were revised to conform to international best practices of Surveying and Mapping profession. Similarly, craftsman cadres were referred to a standing committee on establishment for further consideration. He also set up a memorandum on five years period As-built survey of any Landed Property for proper Land Inventory and Planning in Nigeria; memorandum on Sub-Surface Survey of utilities and Infrastructure within ten metres depth of the project site; memorandum on the adoption of Photogrammetric and Remote Sensing Techniques for five years periodic monitoring of urban growth in Nigeria.

    Other achievements include memorandum on the Establishment of a National Hydrographic Office; memorandum on the need for Telecommunication regulators and Service Providers to collaborate with the Office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation in carrying out As-built Survey of Sub-Surface Telecommunication facilities for safety and proper documentation; memorandum for the Office to co-ordinate the As-built and As-laid Surveys of Submarine Telecommunication Facilities; memorandum on the need for companies using Photogrammetry and ,Remote Sensing Techniques to obtain permission from OSGOF before carrying out Acquisition/Dissemination of survey and mapping data; memorandum on the dissemination of the Adopted 7 Transformation Parameters for the Seamless Migration of Data between the two co-ordinate systems, the World Geodetic Systems (WGS 84) and the Minna Datum (Clark 1880 Modified). (National Council of Works in 2014) and countless other such achievements.

    Under Mr. Awudu, the Office is seeking the approval of the National Council on Establishment for the Amendment of the Schemes of Service for Surveyor’s cadre to accommodate persons with qualifications in Remote Sensing, Photogrammetry, Hydrography, Cartography and Geographic Information Systems to be employed into Surveyor, Technologist and Technician cadres of the Survey profession. (National Council on Establishment in 2014). It has also been collaborating with the security services in ensuring a safer Nigeria by making their work a lot easier.

    Experience over the years has shown that Surveying and Mapping is the bedrock of any physical development, and is ubiquitous hence more investments and additional operational departments are required for the Office to meet her constitutional role for sustainable national development. This is even more apt now following the greater awareness and requests from the various MDAs on the use of geospatial (surveying and mapping) information in their sustainable planning and informed decision making.

    The Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation is clearly determined to achieve its mandate in order to contribute its quota towards sustainable national development. The challenges faced by the Office, such as inadequate funding, would, if addressed, greatly enhance the achievements of this objective.

    • Dahiru is the Convener, Movement for Transparent and Accountable Governance.

     

  • Manual against sexual violence unveiled in Lagos

    A Non-Governmental Organisation, Centre for the Advancement and Protection of The Rights Of Vulnerable People (CAPRIGHTS-VP), has unveiled two manuals on sexual violence and juvenile delinquency for schools in Alimosho Local Government Area, Lagos.

    It said the manuals will support teachers, counsellors and parents in the treatment of vulnerable issues and ensure they remain effective and efficient support base for pupils.

    The unveiling coincided with the closing of Voices of Freedom project by CAPRIGHTS-VP, and handing over of the project to the participating schools.

    Read Also: Sexual violence: Women across the globe tell their stories

    Programme manager for CAPRIGHT Clara Kanu urged the pupils to speak against sexual abuse, bullying within or outside the school.

    She urged school authorities to support the pupils in making their voices heard.

    Kanu also implored the Lagos State Education Board to facilitate the adoption of Voices of Freedom platform in other schools and ensure that copies of the guidelines are handed over to them.

    She said: “Our original plan was to pilot this project within government secondary schools but this is an opportunity to relaunch the partnership opportunity with government schools.

    “With the commitment of the Education Board, CAPRIGHT team will be standing by to provide the necessary support that will ensure that the brilliant impact of this project is not limited only to schools in Alimosho.

    “I, therefore, challenge the schools, especially the pupils, to keep the light shining, let the platform become more formidable than it is today and a force to reckon with both within and outside Alimosho Local Government Area.”

  • Masari inaugurates health promotion campaigns in Katsina

    Katsina State Governor Aminu Bello Masari on Thursday inaugurated Health Promotion Outreach Campaign in Kurfi Local Government, decrying the alarming rate of child mortality rate in the state.

    He noted that about 900,000 children and mothers die annually in the country.

    The Health Promotion Outreach Programme is being sponsored by the state’s “Save One Million Lives Programme, supported by donor agencies and the state Ministry of health

    Masari, who described the National Child Mortality rate as unacceptable, further revealed that the aggregate data showed that the nation only made modest progress in the health sector in the past two decades despite the huge investment by the three levels of government.

    Read Also: Why I seek reelection -Masari

    He said: “We have observed that solution focused on improved inputs has not worked in the past but the availability of many of the health inputs such as health facilities and trained health workers suggested that governance broadly defined impending or binding constraints.

    “This Save One Million Lives Programme provides us with an opportunity to broadly address governance and the management issues towards ensuring  greater focus on the result; increased accountability; improved measurement and the encouragement of innovation.”

  • ‘Learn new skills, knowledge, right attitude’ 

    The Director-General, Public Service Staff Development Centre (PSSDC), Magodo, Lagos, Dr. Senukon Ajose-Harrison, has urged learning and development practitioners in the public and private sectors to learn new skills, knowledge, right attitude and new approaches that will not only be useful for today, but also be of great impact in the 21st century.

    He spoke on Thursday at PSSDC, Magodo, Lagos.

    Ajose-Harrison said learning and development were processes that brought about a relatively permanent change in behaviour, which occurred as a result of experience at the formal and informal levels.

    “It includes the acquisition of new skills, knowledge and right attitudes that ultimately culminates in the permanent change behaviour of the learner/ employee.

    “There is, therefore, the need for practitioners to learn new approaches and exchange ideas,” he said.

    Ajose-Harrison said the 21st century approaches in learning and development include personalisation, bite-sized support resources, training metrics and analytics, self-paced online training, gamification, responsive design, collaborative online training, virtual and augmented reality, among others.

    “The objective of the forum is to create room for exchange of ideas, networking and benchmarking of world best practices among learning and development practitioners in Nigeria and in the world”, he added.

    Facilitators at the event included the Registrar, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management in Nigeria, Mrs. Ajibola Ponnle, represented by the Director for Professional Development and Standards, Dr. Charles Ugwu, who spoke on “Learning and Development, Integrating New Trends and Perspectives with Existing Approaches”.

    He said it is of great importance for learners to cope with the trends in the 21st century “so as to allow us flow with the trends.”

  • Suspected ritualists kill 50- year-old woman

    A 50-year-old woman simply identified as ‘Iya Dunsi’, who was a palm oil seller, has been reportedly killed near her home at Odiolowo, Arigidi-Akoko, Ondo State, by suspected ritualists.

    Sources said the ritualists removed the breasts of the deceased, who was an indigene of Ikaram-Akoko in Akoko Northwest Local Government Area of the state.

    Her body was said to have been dropped about 100 metres to her house.

    The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) for Okeagbe-Akoko, Ibitayo Adetanranmi, a Superintendent of Police (SP), confirmed the incident.

    He said the culprits would be arrested.

    Read Also: Suspected ritualists abduct 13-day old baby

    The Ikare Area Commander, Razak Rauf, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), said criminals like ritualists would not be spared.

    Three similar incidents happened late last year at Ikare-Akoko involving women. Their private parts were removed.

    An eight-year old pupil of St. George’s Anglican Primary School, Oke-Agbe, the headquarters of Akoko Northwest, was also killed in similar circumstances.

     

  • Random jottings from HIV treatment centres

    Some reporters and National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) officials have toured selected HIV treatment centres in Lagos. In this travelogue, Associate Editor ADEKUNLE YUSUF reports that there is still more to be done to rid the country of the deadly virus.

    An air-conditioned bus snaked its way out of hideous traffic in Ikeja and deposited its occupants in the heart of Lagos Mainland. The mission: to monitor and evaluate HIV activities in some treatment sites in the state. In no time, the ecstatic visitors were warmly welcomed into the ever-busy bowels of Agbomola Trado Clinic (ATC) in Ebute Meta, an old part of Lagos famous for its colonial-era buildings and Brazilian-style architecture. This instantly laced the trip with a tinge of unusualness, at least for some reporters on the trip. Loud whisperings elicited a barrage of questions: Why a traditional birth attendant home? Is this one of HIV treatment sites? Why not a regular hospital?

    But, having quickly sensed the discomfiture, Toyin Aderibigbe, NACA’s head of public relations and protocol division, calmly rescued the situation. She surmised that for Nigeria to record any appreciable impact in the fight against HIV, especially stemming the tide of mother-to-child transmission, it is suicidal to ignore the booming business in the homes of traditional birth attendants (TBAs). At some point, this was what nudged global health giants into evolving the idea of training and equipping TBAs in developing countries with information and skills for better service delivery, having realised the increasing popularity of these homes among the local parturient. Although TBAs literally run the show in the country, the jury is out with regards to the roles many unskilled hands play in exacerbating the maternal morbidity and mortality crisis, since many ply their trade in poor sanitary conditions, unskilled personnel, use of unsterilized equipment, and little or no knowledge of prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

    One of the beneficiaries of such trainings is Abidemi Ajayi, 42, who runs ATC. The home was established by his late father, Samuel Ajayi, in 1969. With the latter’s demise eight years ago, he is now fully in charge of administering a home that handles between 3-4 deliveries per day. Although the new ATC helmsman may not be a certified nurse, doctor or midwife, he appears skilled enough – through trainings and apprenticeship – in birth attendant issues, having been trained to proficiency in the skills needed to manage complicated pregnancies, childbirth, and the immediate postnatal period and in the identification and referral of complications in women and newborns.

    Being a traditional home, ATC relies heavily on herbal medicine and other concoctions to give succor to hordes of people thronging the facility daily, using the services of ten traditional and nursing professionals. Large plastic pots containing various soaked herbal mixtures dot several corners. Apart from attending to pregnant mothers, the homes also handles a coterie of services including management and referral services on infertility, HIV/AIDS, Malaria, haemorrhage, hypertensive disorders, and sepsis. All these have been fingered as the key contributors to maternal deaths in the country.

    But the home cannot be said to be a run-of-mill. The first floor of the small building housing ATC is fortified with modern diagnostic equipment, including scan, etc. There is also an ambulance that is ready to answer the calls of high-risk pregnancies and obstetric emergencies on a 24-hour basis. It delivery rooms are fairly okay. Enquiries showed that ATC charges N5,000 for antenatal services for a pregnancy between 1-6 months; it is slightly higher if the pregnancy has reached advanced stages before registering in the home for prenatal care. In all cases, Abidemi assured it is the rule of thumb to run HIV test for pregnant women before antenatal registration is formalised in a home where every normal delivery attracts N15,000.

    However, unlike in ATC where we were warmly received and given a freehand to carry out our mission in an unfettered atmosphere, our next port of call presented a complicated scenario that left a sour taste in the mouth. Despite the presence of two senior officials of the Lagos State AIDS Control Agency (LSACA) in our team, those who run the Health Centre and Maternity on Harvey Road, Yaba, rebuffed all entreaties to allow us access to interact with people undergoing treatment in the facility. Its medical director (MD) said she would be summarily suspended if discovered to have spoken to the press or allowed us to interact with patients without “a written authorisation from the above,” forcing our team to exit the hospital with mission unaccomplished.

    Not satisfied with the excuses, The Nation, days after the disappointment, returned to Harvey Road Health Centre and Maternity incognito. It was discovered that more than 500 people, including twenty children, are currently undergoing HIV treatment in the facility. One very touching case is that of 14-year old Obinna Sunday who tested positive after he was picked up from the streets by a public-spirited neighbour last December. His parents are said to have died, leaving him with only his sister, who surprisingly is not tested positive. Findings further showed that Obinna’s mother was HIV positive, which probably contributed to her death; though his father’s status or cause of death could not be ascertained. One thing however stands in the way of Obinna’s treatment: inability to afford the cost of different types of tests recommended for him. The total cost of the tests is N8,500, which his sister said she could not afford.

    While HIV-infected persons currently on treatment at Harvey Road Health Centre and Maternity said treatment is absolutely free, they complained that tests cost a fortune. Cost of different types of tests ranges from N8,500 to 10,500, depending on what doctors recommended. But if the case of Obinna as an infected teenager is pitiable, stories of younger children orphaned by HIV abound in the hospital. While infected children whose parents are still alive are usually luckier, since family members are said to often to rally round to get money for tests, the orphans are often marooned to languish in hopelessness as a result of inability to afford test fees.

    Another pathetic case involved a boy who tested positive on account of a blood transfusion that went awry in the one hospital where he was treated. Though he is undergoing treatment now at Harvey Road Health Centre and Maternity, his status was said to have been discovered when tests showed that his entire family members – father, mother and siblings – are not HIV positive. One woman (name withheld) in her forties, who is also undergoing treatment in the hospital, has one of her children as HIV positive as a result of not knowing her status throughout her child-bearing years. Reality was to dawn on her when her last child became a regular hospital guest; perpetually falling ill. Tests later revealed that the mother and child are infected, though her children tested negative, spewing memories that leave her ruing the risks she took by not undergoing HIV tests before and during her four pregnancies.

    Still smarting from the bruises of disappointment at Harvey Road, our team finally berthed at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), another HIV treatment centre in Yaba, where we were welcomed with open arms. While testing and treatment are free in many hospitals, it was learnt that each patient at NIMR has to contend with the hassles of paying N500 for baseline tests and N5,000 for enrolment for a lifetime treatment. Any public health facility that charges any user fee, according to NACA, is indulging in illegality because such fees have been found to reduce or block access to test or treatment, thus negating operational guidelines of the agency.

    Also coming to fore during the trip are issues of children born with HIV, but have grown weary of taking the requisite drugs with the passage of time, now rebelling against their mothers who have neither mustered the will to disclose to their wards the purpose of the incessant drugs nor their HIV status. But Naco Ezieme, coordinator of a support group that tends to the welfare and psychosocial needs of people living with HIV at NIMR, advised that mothers should reveal the closely-guarded secret to their children immediately after attaining adolescence.

    After interacting extensively with Dr. Nkiru David, a consultant pediatrician and head of clinical sciences department at NIMR, it is apparent that there is still a lot of stigma and discrimination about HIV, which discourages many people from wanting to come out for tests and treatment. While NIMR has mother-to-child transmission rate of less than one per cent, its adolescents’ clinic faces a lot of issues. One of them is lack of adherence to drugs and medication by adolescents and young adults who have been on antiretroviral drugs for about fifteen years only to become lethargic when they grow up.

    The consultant pediatrician added that the country needs manpower – social scientists and counselors that are trained in the delivery of health information – to understand young adults’ issues and be able to discuss same with them with empathy. “We need people to empathetically understand young adults’ concerns to let them know that these (anti-retroviral) drugs are needed not only for their continued health and viral load suppression, but for the health of the entire community because these are sexually active people,” she advised. She also cautioned that taking drugs haphazardly leads to drug resistance, stressing that adolescents and young adults living with HIV are a special group that needs a lot of support so as not to reverse the gains recorded so far.

    But the trip was not all about tales of woes and disappointment, as Prof Babatunde Salako, director general of NIMR, was on hand to field questions, temporarily halting his official duties despite not being pre-informed of the team’s trip. He stated that he finds it amiss that Nigerians hardly roll out the drums to celebrate whenever their country records a milestone. By this, Salako referred to the recent news of gains the country has recorded in the fight against the deadly virus, as exemplified by the findings of the Nigeria AIDS Indicator and Impact Survey (NAIIS), which was unveiled last month by President Muhammadu Buhari. “Let me congratulate the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) for the successful completion of the nationwide survey on HIV and beyond the fact that it was a successful project, the results were also very encouraging. We now have national prevalence of 1.4 percent, which is 50 percent less than what it used to be and that cuts across for most regions of the country,” he said.

    The foremost nephrologist, however, expressed his fears about NAIIS results, afraid that the good news about HIV prevalence rate in the country may cause donor fund to dry up. “The major fear that I have is that if the donors leave today, we will not be able to sustain this achievement. The government has to begin to put in the front burner the process of ensuring that they take over the funding of HIV completely from donors. We need to begin to look inwards to start bringing on board the process of sustainability, more like a take over from the funders and taking full responsibility to run all these programmes,” Salako said.

     

  • Danfo drivers to get 800 vehicles in Lagos’ bus reform scheme

    Eight hundred and twenty high and medium buses will be rolled out under the Lagos State Government’s Bus Reform Initiative (BRI), Transportation Commissioner Ladi Lawanson said on Thursday.

    He said 800 of the buses would be released to private operators under a lease model, which has incorporated the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN).

    Lawanson, who spoke with reporters in his Alausa, Ikeja office, said the BRI would boost government’s determination to organise the public transportation system.

    He said: “The bus reform project was designed to find solution to the perennial challenges of poor quality service, unpredictable fare, unhealthy competition, high rate of accidents and unreliable service.”

    Under the BRI regime, he said the yellow mini-buses would be replaced with air conditioned ones of uniform specification, with predictable schedules and routes, supported with infrastructure.

    The implementation of the initiative, the commissioner said, began with the construction and inauguration of the Ikeja Bus Terminal by President Muhammadu Buhari last year.

    Read Also: Lorry crushes danfo driver to death in Mushin

    He said the other terminals were at Yaba, Oyingbo, Ojota, Agege and Ajah.  The masterpiece, the Oshodi Transport Interchange, Lawanson said, would be completed and unveiled by President  Buhari before May 29.

    The commissioner said the project, which would be technology-driven, would ensure seamless integration of transport modes and passenger movement through 23 routes.

    He said 75 of the planned 100 bus shelters had been completed under the first phase of the project to support the buses’ operation.

     

  • NECO reschedules entrance exam into unity schools

    The National Examinations Council (NECO) has rescheduled the National Common Entrance Examination into unity schools to 27th April.

    It’s Head, Information and Public, Relations Division, Azeez Sani, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

    According to the statement, the date for the examination was shifted to give states with low registration of candidates the opportunity to register for the examination.

    Read Also: NECO extends registration of 2018 SSCE

    The statement said 70,720 candidates have registered for the examination.

    The statement reads: “The examination which was initially scheduled for 13th April, was re-scheduled to give states with low registration of candidates the opportunity to register for the examination.

    “Candidates are advised to download the new Examination Time-Table from the Council’s website: http://www.neco.gov.ng.”

  • Why I dropped ambition for House Majority Leader, by Monguno

    The candidacy of the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, as the Speaker of the Ninth House got a boost on Thursday as Muhammad Monguno withdrew his ambition.

    Monguno, one of the frontline contenders, immediately declared his support for Gbajabiamila based on All Progressives Congress (APC) decision and personal conviction.

    Read Also: My agenda for House of Reps, by Gbajabiamila

    Monguno, who is the current Chairman Committee on Agricultural Productions and Services, said the decision of APC supersedes personal ambitions.

    Besides being an advocate of party supremacy and a loyal party member, Monguno said having zoned the Senate Presidency to the Northeast, fairness dictates that House members from the same region should naturally drop Speakership ambition.

     

  • AFAN: Gross enhancement scheme ’ll boost agric productivity

    The All Farmers’ Association of Nigeria (AFAN) has appealed to the Federal Government to re-introduce the Gross Enhancement Scheme (GES), saying it will not only benefit peasant farmers, but also boost agricultural productivity.

    Making this appeal in Zaria, Kaduna State, during the week, the AFAN Chairman in the state, Alhaji Nuhu Aminu, said it became imperative in view of the importance of GES not only to peasant farmers at the grassroots, but to the overall agricultural productivity.

    He lamented that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) Anchor Borrowers’ Loan Scheme was not yielding the desired benefits because most of the beneficiaries did not use the input-package supplied.

    Aminu said instead, the beneficiaries disposed such items instantly and collected cash. Apart from this, the input-package, he said, usually arrived very late. According to him, the package was usually supplied in the middle of the rainy season when crops cultivation had already gone far.

    Read Also: AFAN assures of rice availability

    He noted that the best way to assist peasant farmers is to re-introduce the GES to enable small holder farmers get fertilisers, seeds and chemicals at highly-subsidised rates.

    “We are not against the Anchor Borrowers’ programme, but the best way to assist Nigerians is through GES where a peasant farmer gets two bags of fertilisers, improved seeds and chemicals at half the market value,” he said.

    Aminu reminded the authorities that large scale farmers were not the ones feeding Nigerians, but small holder farmers, who farm and sell to feed Nigerians.

    He, therefore, called on the government to accord special attention to such segment of farmers, noting that large scale farmers sell their produce in bulk to food processing industries.

    “We are appealing to the President to ensure that he appoints a Minister of Agriculture, who will genuinely take the agricultural sector to next level of development.

    “There are many problems in the sector and we have actually written to the Vice President explaining some of these issues.

    “We are insisting that the best way to assist peasant farmers is to supply fertilisers to them through GES,’’ Aminu said.

    According to him, peasant farmers have no other means of getting the commodity at subsidised rates except through government policies and programmes.

    He appealed to the Federal Government to consider the possibility of re-introducing the GES programme for the benefit of grassroots farmers and the agricultural sector.