SHONGA FARMS AND THE PETTINESS OF THE KWARA STATE GOVERNMENT

Shonga Farms and the pettiness of Kwara State Government.

By Barrister Titilope Akogun

Permit me to appreciate the State Government administrators ever since 1999 till date. I must appreciate them because Governance isn't an easy task. Though the citizens complain of its leaders the same way football viewers complain of players fielded on the field of a football pitch.

It's not easy, I must confess!

The difficulty and / or otherwise in governance however proves the proweress in its administrators. I must confess that Some of the  policies of Governor Ahmed have gone down well with me, which I believe is same to some other persons.

You can't please us all.

@GovernorAhmed, I make bold to say that your recent action of seeking #2billion Naira loan to be injected into Shonga farms, is petty, diversionary and an abuse of the essence of CBN's intervention in agriculture.

I humbly posit that there are thousands of Kwarans who are farmers and are willing to transform their subsistence farming to commercial farming, but lack funding.

Permit me to refer you to a Local Government in Kwara State; Baruten Local Government. I lived their right from my childhood days till my Secondary education elapsed. The majority of people in this region of the state are subsistence farmers who feed the entirety of the south west, Lagos inclusive, with their farm harvests.

One would have thought investing in such region and it's people who were more passionate in what they do, would have been more beneficial to a large chunk of Kwara state.

I am further disappointed that the @SpNigeria Sen. @bukolasaraki personally marshalled the diversion of the funds supposedly meant for the the entire Kwara farmers to fund a private invested farm project with little State Government interest.

The pettiness is further entrenched by the alleged income the Shonga farm is presently generating.

Should we in the name of entrenching a project of the previous administration divert what should be meant for the entire state farmers?

Must we impose unpopular policies on the State?

How productive and beneficial has Shonga Farms Ltd being, since it's existence?

Do Kwarans get access to its products as it gets from other Kwara farmers?

Who would pay back the Loan sought from the Central Bank of Nigeria?

Would expending 2billion Naira in the agricultural Sector(Farmers)  in the state not boost agriculture in a state proclaimed to be an agriculture State?

Should it not have been an initiative supervised and channelled through the Ministry of Agriculture to provide ample food to many , and countless numbers of employment?

Would it not have been better that the funds are divided even with a larger percentage to Shonga farms to really  revive Shonga farms ltd with little state government interest?

I leave your Excellencies with the voice of Reason.
Please at a time like this, when poverty and hunger is ravaging the nation, we should stop embarking on white elephant projects with little or no benefits to the general interest of Kwarans.