Presidency worries over farmers’ enumerators

*FMARD promises payment soon

The office of the Vice President (VP), Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has expressed disappointment over the prolonged payment to the thirty-five thousand youth enumerators that had registered and captured farmers’ data across the states of the federation, even after the Economic Financial Corruption Commission ( EFCC) investigations had found no sharp practices against the exercise.

 Senior Special Adviser (SSA) to the President on Food Security Matters, and head, Project for Agriculture coordination and Execution (PACE) under the office of the Vice President, Dr. Andrew Kwasari said this while reacting to why these enumerators were yet to be paid after verification of their jobs, saying the payment should have been completed if not the interjection of EFCC that put every activities on hold to carry out an investigation.

Also, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) through the Director of Extension, Dr. Frank Sutamari has  said everything is  completed from his table, and only remain the minister to approve payment for the rest  batches through Government Integrated Financial Management System (GIFMS), saying the directive from the EFCC to stop every activities regarding the exercise took so long, otherwise the payment would have been completed to all enumerators.  

Dr. Sutamari stressed that the ministry and the office of PACE are both passionate about the payment of these youths, which he attested with a commendation letter given to him by the enumerators being recognition of his concern and action to ensure payment, adding that there is no course for alarm as their  money is intact and payment would soon commence to the remaining batches.

Over 35,000 youth enumerators who are engaged in 2020 to capture the data of Nigeria’s farmers to ensure accountability in the distributions of agricultural inputs subsidy are yet to be paid even though some payment had been paid to about six batches until abrupt stop of the exercise by EFCC.

The youths had taken to the street to demand for their payment as some of them have even threatened to take the matter to court saying they would not want a situation where the money is being diverted for another thing especially in the face of the coming 2023 election which the process had already started with presidential and other primaries.

It was stated in the petition titled ‘’ justice for the thirty five thousand Nigeria Youth’’ that the FMARD had engaged under the project tagged agriculture for food and job plan (AFJP) which is part of the economic sustainability plan of President Mohammadu Buhari, but being chaired by the VP, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo who we gathered had written several letters on why the payment was still on hold after EFCC clearance.

The petition claimed that some of them have not been paid as some batches had received 50% payment after verification of the registered farmers and their farmlands across the country with an agreement of five hundred naira (N500.00) per survey. 

An angry anonymous told us that some powerful entities in the government had initiated the EFCC interrogation of the exercise thinking something indicting could be found especially against the SSA to the president on food security matters and former Minister of Agriculture, Alhaji Mohammad Sabo Nanono.

Our source added that this strong group had got an approval to disburse fertilizer inputs worth of thirty billion naira to farmers through the conventional ways which was queried by the Federal Ministry of Finance on reason of farmers’ data for accountability, just as the office of PACE being headed by the SSA on food security matters to the President also advised that those beneficiaries  must be identified through scientific process with the size of their farms as criterion to benefit.