Fertilisers subsidy deal: My Story –Adamu Bello

A former Minister of Agriculture Adamu Bello has refuted claims by the current Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akin­wumi Adesina, who was reported to have said that a total of N870 billion was spent on subsidy for fertilisers by the past ad­ministration. Adesina was reported to have said that N26 billion was corruptly taken on subsidy annually over a period of 40 years, but that only N2.9 bil­lion actually reached the farmers annually.

 

Bello, who was minister from 2001 to 2007 said the quoted amount was bogus and not a true reflection of the facts. He said from 1999 to 2001, the total amount spent on subsidy for fertilisers was N25 bil­lion, maintaining that his claims could be verified from the budget office of the Federal Ministry of Fi­nance.

His statement read in part: “To claim that there was subsidy of N870 bil­lion spent on fertilisers since the use of fertilisers was initially encouraged by the government about 40 years ago is most unfair, as I doubt if the entire agricul­tural budgets for the whole period was up to that sum.

For a fact, from 1999 to 2007, the total subsidy on fertilisers was under N25 billion. This can be verified from the Budget Office of the Federal Ministry of Fi­nance. “

Dr. Adesina claimed that the subsidy, which was abused and corruptly taken, was N26 billion annually over a period of 40 years. He further claimed that only N2.9 billion reached the farmers annually.

“Any discerning person can see clearly that under Obasanjo’s administration, we had only N3 billion on average per annum for fer­tiliser subsidy. How can N26 billion be corruptly taken annually when only N3 billion was allocated annually?

And where did the figure of N870 billion subsidy on fertilisers come from when only about N25 billion was committed ineight years, which represent 20 per cent of the 40 years mentioned? It is clear that there is no basis for the claim being made by Dr. Adesina ex­cept for the purposes of getting unearned awards at the expense of those who served in previous admin­istrations.