Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi has inaugurated 100 units of Massey Ferguson Tractors for distribution to the 21 local government areas of the state to boost post-flood farming activities in the state.
Bello, who inaugurated the tractors alongside farm implements and Educational materials on Wednesday in Lokoja, said the gesture was part of his government’s efforts to meet the yearnings and agitations for good governance in the state.
He said that his administration undertook similar gestures in 2017 and 2018, adding that this year’s intervention was a proactive one in view of the flood that ravaged about 10 local government areas, destroying crops and retarding farming activities.
The government, he said, had taken a proactive step in inaugurating the tractors for immediate resumption of farming activities after the recession of the floods.
Bello also said that the tractors would also be of benefit to the youths and women beneficiaries of the cluster farming project launched on Tuesday by the World Bank Agro Processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support (APPEALS) Project
“We don’t wait for the people to demand rather we provide their needs before they demand”, he said, adding that the educational materials were meant for the benefit of the pupils and students.
“If you want your community to feel the impact of government, you must educate your child and that’s why we provide this educational materials,”he said.
Mr Salami Ozigi Deedat, the state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, speaking earlier, described the distribution of the 100 tractors as unprecedented and a major revolution in the Agricultural sector of the state.
He said that with the intervention, the sector would have the capacity to guarantee food security for the state in particular and contribute to the food sufficiency of the nation.
Deedat said that procurement of the Educational and Instructional materials for distribution to public primary schools was an intervention that would rekindle the hope of the ordinary man in Bello’s administration that a child of nobody could have access to quality education.
The Ohimege-Igu of Koton-Karfe, Alhaji Abdulrazaq Isah-Koto, in a Goodwill message on behalf of Kogi Council of Chiefs, said the tractors would be of immense benefit to the farmers as they would relieve them of manual tilling after the flood.
The royal father noted that the wealth of nations resided in the rural communities and solicited the assistance of the government to farmers in providing more agricultural seedlings especially at the local government areas. (NAN)
