Kogi State Governor, Ahmed Usman Ododo, has said his administration saved over N20 billion from recovery and refurbishment of about 200 abandoned tractors deployed for the 2024 wet season farming in the state.
The disclosure was contained in a statement issued yesterday by his Special Adviser on Media, Ismaila Isah. The governor said he was compelled by the prevailing economic situation to evolve innovative approach by putting together a team of engineers to revitalise disused tractors procured by his predecessor, Yahaya Bello, but abandoned in different farm settlements within and outside the state.
Ododo explained that he set out to recover and put them back to use by spending far less than what it would have cost the state government to procure new tractors for the farming season, given the timing and extra cost due to foreign exchange instability and logistics.
The governor disclosed that it would have cost the state government well over N70 million if it were to procure a brand new tractor with complete accessories, adding that the figure could be well over N20 billion for about 200 tractors that were refurbished by the team of engineers working at a workshop in the premises of Kogi State Agricultural Development Project (ADP) in Lokoja.
According to Governor Ododo, “spending billions of Naira, passing through the procurement processes, shipment and clearing would have been difficult.
“But we had over 250 tractors procured by the last administration but it was not well utilized by the same indigenes of our dear state. These are public property.
“So far, we have spent over 2 Billion Naira in bringing up to 140 tractors back to life. If we were to buy 140 tractors or more, I think we should be talking about tens of billions of Naira and not minding the time it will take to ship, to clear, and we don’t have time to wait for all that.
“We are eager to give back to our people. So it’s working and the farmers can attest to that, the good people of Kogi State can attest to that. “You can go to the workshop to see what we are doing because governance is all about cutting down cost for you to be able to serve your people”.
Governor Ododo further explained that the team of engineers have also trained many young people in the state as operators and service engineers deployed along with the tractors to all the 76 farm clusters where they are also expected to take up hectares of farmland and take part in farming under the One Farmer, One Hectare programme of the present administration in the state.
The Governor said the investment in agriculture by the state government will be sustained, assuring that all that needs to be provided will be in place including security and possible expansion to over 50,000 hectares in the next farming season to boost agricultural production and guarantee food security through all-year round farming in the state.
Speaking on the comparative advantage of the state in agriculture, Governor Ododo noted that Kogi state has the capacity to become the next food basket of Nigeria with its advantages in cultivation of tubers like yam and cassava and grains such as rice and maize as well as vegetables with over 70 per cent of its land area being arable and the abundance of water bodies in Rivers Niger and Benue as well as the energy and enterprise of its youthful population which is now encouraged by the government to invest in agriculture.
The Governor noted that the only way Nigeria can beat the current inflationary trend induced by prevailing hike in food prices is a return to massive investment in agriculture under the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, stressing that an aggressive campaign is required to encourage more Nigerians to embrace farming as a means of subsistence and to support the economic recovery of families in the country.
