Sani had advised the Buhari administration to channel its resources into ending insecurity in the
North.Senator Shehu Sani’s advice imploring the
Buhari administration to secure farmers from bandit attacks instead of disbursing billions of cash for pest control, apparently fell into deaf ears, as the Federal Government has finally approved N13billion as intervention funds to fight Quelea birds, locusts, grasshoppers and other pests in selected 12 States in the north.
The benefitting states include; include Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa, Taraba, Yobe and Borno.
The Director of Information in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Theodore Ogaziechi, in a statement said the intervention fund was to ensure uninterrupted agricultural activities during the 2020 farming season.
Kill the Bandits and terrorists first so that people can go to the farm and kill the pests do you kill the locust pests and leave the armed pests?
Kill the Bandits and terrorists first so that people can go to the farm and kill the pests https://t.co/w0JuVO7aaw do you kill the locust pests and leave the armed pests?
— Senator Shehu Sani (@ShehuSani) June 14, 2020
The fund was also meant to control trans-boundary pests and minimise the impact of COVID-19 pandemic as well as guarantee both nutritional and national food security.
While flagging-off the 2020 dry season Control of Trans-boundary Pest at Birnin Kebbi International Airport, Kebbi State, the Minister of Agricultural and Rural Development, Muhammad Nanono, said the fund was released due to the outbreak of desert locusts in East Africa and the Middle East.
According to Nanono, “The present administration under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari is very determined to fight any menace that would truncate the tremendous success recorded so far, especially in the agricultural sector.
“The choice of Kebbi State for the flag-off is deliberate, in view of the extensive agricultural activities in the state and the immense cooperation and collaboration of the state government in the implementation of agricultural interventions over the years.”