Leadership (Abuja)
Andrew Oota
23 July 2008
Abuja — Former Minister of Agriculture, Mallam Adamu Bello, and his successor Ademola Seriki, yesterday engaged in an open war of words over statements by Seriki that a cartel operated in fertiliser during the life of the last administration under which Bello served as minister for eight years.
Similarly, it was revealed that the Ministry of Agriculture under former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Adamu Bello as minister spent N25 billion on the procurement of fertiliser.
It was also shocking the declaration by the former Agriculture Minister that Nigeria has no business with hunger, describing as "nonsense" comments of his successor that a cartel that operated in the fertiliser business was responsible for the food crisis in the country.
Mallam Bello, who appeared before the Senate Ad-hoc Committee investigating the causes of food scarcity in Nigeria, said the Minister of Agriculture did not know what he was talking about, adding "He was talking nonsense".
According to him, "If 65 contractors got the supply of the product in 2007 and you reduced it to three in 2008, then if there is a cartel, they are members of that cartel".
In a sharp response the Minister of State, Ademola Seriki, said, "I take exception to what the former minister said. I think I take exception to that".
There was tension in the hall which took the intervention of the Chairman of the committee, Idris Umar, who urged Bello to withdraw the statement which he said was derogatory.
He cautioned, "Try to mind your language and soften a bit".
But Adamu Bello continued, "It is just that it does not make sense to me that 65 contractors were reduced to three and they call that eradication of cartel?"
He insisted that the three contractors that were awarded the supply of fertiliser in 2008 have been supplying fertilisers to the ministry throughout Obasanjo's administration.
The two ministers also disagreed on the reason behind the poor supply of fertiliser to 56 per cent in 2007 from 96 percent in the previous year. While Bello insisted that it was because the contractors who had started supplying fertiliser before he left office were not paid by the Yar'Adua government, the minister of state said that the contractors were paid in December 2007, adding that the contractors came back to commend the ministers while confessing that they have never been paid the same year they supplied fertilisers under the previous administration.
Also clearing air on the conflicting figures spent on procurement of fertiliser under the administration of former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the former Agriculture Minister said the sum of N25 billion was spent.
Also commenting on the controversies surrounding the silos , Mallam Bello simply said the issue is complicated, but added that 23 silos should have been constructed around the country, but the contractors collected the money but abandoned the contracts, adding that four silos were completed and commissioned under Obasanjo.
Bello also told the committee that the contractors are presently being prosecuted by the EFCC.
He also told the panel, "Nigeria is not among the country in the category of global hunger. The map produced by UN Food Agency indicated that the incidence of hunger in Nigeria is just 9 percent.
"In May 2007, there were gluts of grains as various states and small producers were looking for whom to buy their grains. We had to buy 100,000 metric tones of corn from Zamfara State".
The committee also mandated the former minister to present to it details on the silos contracts.
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