Nigeria loses N776bn to corruption in fertilizer sector –Akinwumi

The Federal Government has said it lost over N776‎ billion to corruption or an average of N26 billion annually in the seed and fertilizer sector between 1980 and 2010.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, said at a four-day Public Affairs Forum organised by the office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President (Public Affairs), Dr. Doyin Okupe, with the theme, “The Jonathan Administration: Four Impactful Years,” that over N873 billion ($5.4 billion) was spent on fertilizer subsidies‎ of which not more than 11 per cent of farmers received the inputs.
According to him, “over N776 billion ($4.8 billion) was estimated to have been lost to corruption or an average of N26 billion (162.5mln) annually while the system displaced the private sector while  Nigerian farmers lost their dignity.”
Adesina said the Agricultural Transformation Agenda was begun using a three-stage approach of treating agriculture as a business rather than as a social or developmental issue, using the value chain approach of adding value to everything produced in Nigeria and ensuring a paradigm shift to agriculture which is the engine growth of the economy.
He said the Jonathan administration transformed the lives of farmers by ending 40 years corruption in the seed and fertilizer sector within 90 days through the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) of which 14 million farmers had benefitted from subsidised farm inputs, with 10.3 million of these beneficiaries (75 per cent) in northern Nigeria.
Adesina stressed that as part of the success of the Jonathan administration, Fertilizer producers and inputs and retailers enjoyed a near 500 per cent boost in credit from financial institutions from $22 million to $125 million between 2012/2013, $5 billion investments in commitments in the fertilizer sector with $1.3 billion from Notore, $9 billion investment by Dangote Group and $1.2 billion by Indorama.
Other achievements, he said, include the large scale mechanised farming ‎underway on 5300 Ha in 10 states to ensure efficient production and the rice revolution in which Nigeria has recorded an additional seven million mts of Paddy rice since 2012, adding that the government was financing N13 billion acquisition of 10 integrated rice mills with capacity of 360,000 mts to reduce the rice milling gap.
Other successes, he said, include the inclusion of 20 per cent cassava flour in the nation’s wheat and confectionery processes particularly in over 30 major bakeries across Nigeria‎, mechanisation of agriculture, empowerment of women farmers and very viable loan facilities through the creation of NIRSAL facilities.
He said to facilitate cassava flour production the government had also facilitated the acquisition of six medium scale plants, private sector to set up seven medium scale plants while the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) is training 5,000 master bakers in 2014 to effectively produce cassava bread at commercial scale with the N4.3 billion Cassava Bread Fund being managed by the Bank of Agriculture (BoA) and Bank of Industry (BOI) respectively.
The Federal Government in August 2014 launched the nation’s Agricultural Mechanisation Programme aimed at supporting farmers to take advantage of existing technologies to develop and expand their agriculture. This was effected with the launch of the AEHE, which is meant to provide agricultural mechanised services at subsidised rates.
The Minister revealed that the full roll out of the programme would be implemented in stages. “We have already started the process to establish the first set of 118 units of Agricultural Equipment Hiring Enterprises across the country. They will have 590 units of tractors, 500 power tillers and 500 harvest and post-harvest equipment. The bidding process by the private sector for these centres are being concluded this week and I expect most of the centers would be fully set.