Fraudsters dupe farmers by impersonating Cassava Association

leadership and the Board of Trustee of the Nigerian Cassava Growers Association

The leadership and the Board of Trustee of the Nigerian Cassava Growers Association (NGCA) of Nigeria has asked its legal department headed by Mrs. Stella Peter to write to banks and individuals whose names have been listed as being involved in what the association refers to as forgery, conspiracy and impersonation using its official documents to defraud many farmers claiming to be representing the association in administering the affairs of the produce.


The president of the body, Pastor. Segun Adewumi disclosed this to Food-Farm news during the inauguration of its Board of Trustees (BoT) in Abuja, adding that the association would no longer tolerate those nefarious activities.

He said that four bank accounts that had been used to carry out the fraudulent activities had been linked to the criminals, noting the banks didn’t do proper follow-up before accepting a forged Corporate Affairs Commission document originally own by his association to open several accounts with same name and CAC Registration number for the impersonators.

Adewumi who also doubles as the secretary of the new inaugurated Board of Trustee (BoT), further stressed that the newly inaugurated BoT was the real economic team that would revamp and revive the economy, with the duty to sanitize and standardize the association, while taking it out of the jaws of those that he described as human vipers and handing it over to responsible people to enhance the work of the association, thereby making it more visible to the public.  

At the event, the BoT members jointly took an oath of office signed by the chairman, Chief Moses Ayinmodu, who told Food-Farm news that now farmers could produce more cassava for the consumption of Nigeria and the world at large, adding that the association is ready to meet the needs of the nation to a greater extent, while also resolving issues concerning cassava in Nigeria, so that the NCGA President would feel relaxed having inaugurated a reliable body to fall back to.

 He appealed to Pastor Adewumi not to be discouraged by the government‘s failure at giving all necessary support  needed  to make cassava a foreign exchange earner and  staple crop, but to continue moving forward.
 
A  BoT member, Mr. Adegbenga Sun-Basorun, said that Nigeria should expect new vista in the association, that indeed would put cassava in the front burner in Nigeria that would generate not only income for the peasant farmers, but also for mega, commercial and industrial farmers and actually increase the gross domestic product of Nigeria, and quoting the president of NCGA, Pastor Segun Adewumi, “that cassava can generate at least 15trillion every year for this economy”.

He added that the association had evolved a strategy whereby youths could be gainfully employed in mega farms, by giving between four to five hectares to youths that will own this hectrage and be able to farm cassava under supervision, in such a way that the output from the farms will be theirs, this we believe will poise more youths into becoming farmers, and every successful individuals that succeeds in maintaining that farm in a year, will have an hectrage increased, so therefore the income generating venture of growing cassava for the individual, will continue to increase.

He continued, “having said that this mega farms would have end industries, in the cluster of farms, that is to say the transportation of the cassava harvest to the point of use would not be far at all, as we know cassava is a very heavy product and it degenerates quickly, so the off take from the farms will be directly linked to the usage in this factories, so therefore harvest can be graded, so that their harvest will be same period of their product pickup to this industries, so it will be a synergy between the farmers and the industries located at the farms, which is a way for Nigerians to look to non oil producing income for Nigeria.”

Another BoT member, Dr. Mrs. Sarah Jubril said that the new board is an added sense of fulfillment and having the polices better understood and promote the polices into action, stating that with the inclusion of the professionals she believed that cassava farming and its value chains would help build the image of the produce, adding that the new board was ready to drive the course of the association in revamping the nation’s economy.

 The board resolved to ensure that NCGA was firmly rooted in all the states, ensure accountability, and create employment, while providing inputs and not physical cash to the farmers.

The new BoT includes Chief Moses Ayimodu, Chairman, Dr. Mrs. Sarah Jubril., Mr. Daniel Richard, Mr. Charles Babalola and Dr. Tahir Mamman. The others are Adegbenga Sun-Basorun, Mr. Olusola Samuel and Pastor  Segun Adewumi Secretary.