The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has accused the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina of not telling Nigerians the truth on what he intends to do with the N60 billion allegedly meant for the provision of 10 million handsets to rural farmers in the country.
Chairman of TUC in Rivers State, Comrade Hyginus Chika Onuegbu, who made the accusation in an interview with LEADERSHIP in Port Harcourt, wondered how the minister would get to all the rural farmers in the country without having their data-base.
Onuegbu said; "the minister is economical with the truth. The minister hasn't told us what he really wants to do with the N60 billion. First of all, many questions will arise. How did the minister come about the 60 billion? Who are these farmers? Does the minister have the data-base of these farmers?
"I know that agriculture in this country has not been taken serious by anybody. There are no records of people who are actually farmers. The extension services are longer working and here we have somebody talking about distributing cell-phones worth N60 billion.
"The question is; has the minister met farmers and found out that what is uppermost in their mind is handset? Does he not think that he is misallocating resources? That is why I said the minister seems to be economical with the truth. He hasn't told us what he really wants to do with the N60 billion because I do not think that the intention is that the money will get to the farmers.
"The minister had made lots of beautiful presentations for which he was applauded by Nigerians but the way he is going about it now, I think that he has not told us the whole truth. Nigerians need to ask why such a very brilliant man will come up with such policy that will be very detrimental to Nigerians."
Expressing the fears that the money may have been earmarked for the prosecution of the 2015 general elections, the TUC chairman said the minister may have used the distribution of handsets to rural farmers as a ploy to deceive Nigerians.
He said; "It is obvious that the N60 billion may be diverted to the 2015 election project. The minister of Agriculture has been making presentations on how he is going to help agriculture grow in this country.
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