Tinubu/Shettima Agro meeting vows hope for farmers

* Asks Bagudu to chair blueprints

·       *AFAN, FACAN make request

The presidential candidate, All Progressive Congress (APC), Sen. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has promised to improve the livelihood of Nigeria farmers from subsistence to mechanized farming with effective Commodity Exchange Commission cum repositioned Bank of Agriculture (BOA) that will be rechanneled to meet producers’ priority if he is voted as the next president, Federal Republic of Nigeria in the next 2023 February polls.  

Sen. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in company of his Vice, Sen. Kashim Shettima, the APC party chairman, Sen. Abdullahi Adama, Director General (DG) presidential campaign council, Simon Lalong, the host Governor, Abdullahi Sani-Bello and other governors from Jigawa and Kebbi disclosed this during an agro-allied town hall meeting held last Monday in Minna, Niger state when interfacing with group of farmers including All farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Federation of Agricultural Commodity Associations (FACAN), and others.

Sen. Tinubu assured the farmers who had presented their expectations by the time he becomes the Nigerian president saying a very effective agricultural blueprint that would accommodate development, protections, climate-smart farming, and irrigation provision to ensure round-the-year farming with efficient commodities exchange commission and rescheduled Bank of Agriculture (BOA) that is repositioned to meet producers’ priorities in terms of financing at a reasonable digit will be provided.

He however asked the farmers in their large numbers to cast their votes for his party in order to ensure his victory at the coming presidential polls saying this would guarantee protection in the market through effective functionability of Commodities Exchange commission.

APC presidential candidate who assured farmers of  irrigation  for all year round farming with prosperity said that ‘’Find your Voters Registration Card without any doubt in your mind as irrigation to protect your farming produce will be made available to you without any further asking. Bank of Agriculture will be rescheduled, rebuilt and restructured to apply to you on a priority basis, and Nigeria will prosper’’

'' We will stop destroying our export potential to create value. We will work to give you the exportable items that will help you produce in a manner that other people will want to buy your produce and not reject your produce. We promise you here that nothing you produce will be destroyed again. We will mitigate the effect of climate change and floods. I sympathize with all of you affected by flood throughout the country and i assured you that it will be mitigated’’ said Sen Tinubu.

Asiwaju admittedly stepped down his prepared paper on the occasion for the one presented by the Kebbi State Governor, Alhaji Atiku Bagudu for what he described as being well articulated and comprehensively rich in contents for agricultural manifesto, and which is in tandem with Buhari’s administration and the party manifesto.

He whoever directed Bagudu to chair the Agricultural and Commodities Directorate of the APC presidential campaign council, saying all other issues to get a robust blueprints agricultural program should be directed to him for proper adoption.

According to him ‘’ I hereby announce Atiku Bagudu to chair the committee of leadership of all the farmers section by session to fashion out the blueprint from what he poured out here today that is enough for adoption because it contains the most critical, most promising road map to prosperity for the farmers and the future of our country. All other papers or contributions are to be directed to Atiku Bagudu. He is to chair the committee with immediate effect’’

Speaking the Chairman of APC, and former Senate Committee Chairman on Agriculture, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu said that the interesting thing everyone needs to know is that agriculture is the biggest employer of labour in Nigerian economy, added that the stability of this country depends on the success of Agriculture as same goes with all other nations saying that ‘‘the person who won the election in Brazil recently said  the thing that gives him inconvenience mostly, and not have a good sleep at night is to think that there is a Brazilian who is going to bed on an empty stomach. Therefore, Agriculture becomes the cornerstone of all the presidents. So we need to attach great importance to this interaction. The country is blessed with fertile land, so why are we talking about poverty in Nigeria in the 21st century’’

The national president of AFAN, Architect Kabir Ibrahim on the occasion commended the effort of the present administration of President Mohammadu Buhari as being done his best, but stressed the need for new coming president and his vice the need to deploy competent people to handle the affair of our food security, saying there is need to do more in agricultural development towards sustainability and wealth creation.

Ibrahihim said that ‘’ we as farmers endorse the candidacy of Tinubu. The average farmer in Nigeria should do agriculture as business. We should go to our farms without fear, but we have many factors preventing us from doing what we know how to do best. President Buhari has done his best, but we ask this incoming government to do more. We ask that you appoint people who know how to do agriculture in your cabinet’’

Speaking also the Vice President, FACAN, Alhaji Sheriff Balogun who endorsed Tinubu/ Shettima candidacy demanded that the new coming president under the APC should be ready to migrate agriculture from subsistent farming to a modernized way of doing commercial agribusiness like is done in other advanced countries of the world where infrastructure are made available for value addition for premium prices on agricultural produce adding that ‘’ we ask you to please look at the infrastructure in terms of roads, storages across the various agricultural producing areas so that we can get from farms to the markets, warehouses across producing areas enabling the farmers to get premium prices as their produce will get to the market very fresh. We also need processing facilities. We're exporting sesame seed from Nigeria now involving over several billions Naira. But if we got into processing, some of these will go into much more revenue and creates employment to our country’’

 The President of the Maize Farmers Association of Nigeria (MAAN) Dr. Bello Abubakar also declared their support for Bola Ahmed, however mentioned the achievement of President Buhari from moving production of maize from eight million metric tons per annual to 20 saying the productivity sustainability must be ensured to save the sub sector in terms of food for both humans and animals.

Finance Director, Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Shehu Muazu who commended the establishment of commodity directorate in the presidential campaign council of Tinubu/Shittima as having faith in the productivity performance of farmers saying this was the first time this would be happening the political history of the country.

Muazu also hailed the position of Sen. Tinubu promising to renew the efficiency of commodities exchange commission, saying it would address the challenges of guarantee minimum price often time faced by small-scale farmers.