The Verdict By Olusegun Adeniyi. Email, olusegun.adeniyi@thisdaylive.com
Early last week, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of
Agriculture, Mrs Ibukun Odusote, announced that the federal government plans to
spend between N40 billion and N60 billion to procure 10 million telephone
handsets from China and United States for free distribution to rural farmers
nationwide. This is part of the e-wallet project. According to Odusote, the
funds for the procurement of the 10 million telephone handsets were already
available.
Following public reaction to the announcement, Minister of
Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, denied that N60
billion had been earmarked for handsets. In arguing that his permanent
secretary “was totally ‘mis’quoted out of context” (whatever that means),
Adesina would add that “the distribution of the phones will be supported
through an MoU signed between the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Communications
Technology and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, with the
Ministry of Women Affairs. Out of the 10 million phones, 5 million will go to
women.
”The minister's statement carefully avoided disclosing how much
the free phones would cost. It only harped on the presumed benefits of the
project, leaving room for the belief that he has something to hide in the area
of funding. Coming at a time of genuine fears about food shortage in the
country, following the heavy flooding of last year, giving free handsets to
rural farmers cannot be described as a sound policy for dealing with the
challenge at hand. No matter the sophistries from the ministry, most Nigerians
believe that the idea behind this handset for rural farmers was motivated, not
by a desire for agricultural improvement but rather by one thing and one thing
alone: contracts!
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