Makinde Not Responsible for Food Prices Crash in Nigeria, Oyo APC Tackles Commissioner Over Claims
Makinde Not Responsible for Food Prices Crash in Nigeria, Oyo APC Tackles Commissioner Over Claims
The All Progressives Congress APC in Oyo state has reacted to the claims by the administration of Governor Seyi Makinde as being responsible for the drastic reduction in the prices of food commodities in the country in recent times describing the information as deliberate falsehood aimed at misleading the public and also diverting general attention away from a government which does more harm than good to the masses.
Reports had it that the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development in Oyo state, Mr. Olasunkanmi Olaleye, made the claims on Thursday while speaking to journalists who accompanied his counterpart in the Ministry of Information, Mr. Dotun Oyelade, to his office at the Agodi State Secretariat in Ibadan.
In a statement issued and made available to journalists, in reaction to the development, by its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, Oyo APC submitted that the desired for Nigeria to achieve and sustain food security was being largely hindered by the likes of Gov. Makinde who lacks clear-cut policy on Agriculture but rather takes pride in paying lip service and frustrating local farmers and prospective investors in a key sector of the economy which is Agriculture.
“But for insensitivity, insincerity and lack of empathy, no appointee or official working for Gov. Makinde should have the guts to score the governor high in any critical sector of the economy- not in even in Agriculture and food security because there is little or nothing to showcase as achievements in the last six and a half years of his administration in Oyo state.
“For the sake of record, the desirable crash in the prices of food commodities as it is being experienced in recent weeks is a national phenomenon which no governor was capable of facilitating and if any state governor would share in the credit, it can never the one who has converted most farmlands to housing estates, abandoned rural farmers to their fate and scared away serious investors in Agriculture from his state.
“It is on record that Gov. Makinde left no one in doubt of his cluelessness on how to further develop the agricultural sector when he spent more than a billion naira on the sponsorship of some youths to Nasarawa state ostensibly to enable them acquire basic training in modern agricultural practice and management in 2019 but up till today, none of those youths has established any farm or agricultural facility in any part of the state.
“The same governor collected a loan of N7.6billion in 2020 to fix farm estates in Akufo and Eruwa but the money was diverted. He also promised state-facilitated production of maize which would be massive enough for export to Botswana but rather than export maize to Botswana, it was a political appointment that was exported to an unknown woman from the southern African country. As if this was not enough, Gov. Makinde changed OYSADEP to OYSADA only to hijack equipment, land and properties belonging to the Agency. So, how can he (Makinde) still lay claim to being responsible for cheaper food items in the market in view of his disservice to the masses.” Oyo APC queried.
