By Okechukwu Nnodim
Farmers, under the aegis of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria have said they have not yet to received the fertilisers that President Bola Tinubu promised to release to them.
On Tuesday, the farmers aid the fertilisers were aimed at cushioning the effect of subsidy removal on Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol.
In July, Tinubu directed that grains and fertilisers should be distributed to cushion the effect of PMS price hike and the rising inflation.
The Central Bank of Nigeria told our correspondent that the distribution process for the grains was ongoing.
This came as senior officials of the National Emergency Management Agency, an agency that was supposed to be part of the distribution process, stated that it was still awaiting directives from the Presidency on it.
On July 20, 2023, the National Economic Council urged NEMA to immediately distribute grains to states within one or two weeks to bring down the price of food items, with a view to mitigating the impact of the removal of petrol subsidy on citizens.
The distribution of about 252,000 metric tonnes of both grains and fertilisers, as directed by Tinubu, was expected to have started, going by the directive of the President and the advice of the NEC.
When contacted and asked if farmers had started receiving the grains and fertilisers from the government, the President, All Farmers’ Association of Nigeria, Kabir Ibrahim, said his members had yet to receive the fertilisers, adding that most farmers were not in dire need of grains.
