By Ayodele Abere
The Senate Leader and the Senator representing Ekiti Central Senatorial District at the National Assembly, Dr. Opeyemi Bamidele has said that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu – administration is not unaware of what the people are going through all over the country at the moment.
Bamidele, opined that the problem that the present administration is currently dealing with didn’t start in 2023 when Tinubu was elected as President of Nigeria. This he said on Monday while distributing fertilizer to farmers in Ekiti Central Senatorial District at his office in Ado-Ekiti, the State capital.
The Senator, who noted that the problem occasioned by many years of misgovernance and mismanagement of resources as a country, explained that government understands the state of the nation, how tough the situation is for the people at the moment and prayed that this time shall surely pass.
“Today, you have a government that is not pretending about how terrible things are in the country. What it’s important is what’s being done to take us out of the current situation. We know that all stones are being turned to ensure that our story gets better”.
Urging citizens to continue to show understanding and patience, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele stressed that the president has some programmes and policies in place to ensure that life becomes more meaningful for them.
In his remarks at the event, the Senate Leader told his constituents that he has come to deliver to them the message of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who according to him decided as part of his short term efforts to make life more meaningful to the people, instructed all the Senators in the country to go beyond sharing rice adding that the President felt they should also join in investing in agriculture.
Speaking on the importance of the fertilizer, Bamidele said if he had his way, he would rather share fertilizer than sharing rice as he said that they will eat rice and finish it. While fertilizer is aimed at production of more foods.
Stressing further, the Leader of the Senate said the president made a certain number of bags available to every Senator in Nigeria, one thousand, two hundred bags of fertilizer to go back to their various states and share.
He said President Tinubu equally made six hundred bags of fertilizer available to every member of the House of Representatives in Nigeria to go back to their three hundred and sixty federal constituencies and share among the farmers.
“Fertilizer distribution is aimed at assisting our farmers. It is not something for political parties, it is not something for any other group of people other than farmers.I didn’t do it immediately because I felt I needed more than one thousand, two hundred bags. So I had to look for money to get additional bags. Today, by the grace of God, we have five thousand bags of fertilizer for distribution. To be distributed in Ekiti Central Senatorial District”. Michael Opeyemi Bamidele announced.
“I didn’t sit down in my home to compile names, I didn’t even ask the APC leaders to compile names because this is not for any political party. This is about the people of Ekiti Central. Whatever party you are, even if you are not a member of any political party, it is meant for our Farmers.
“So what I did was to contact the governor and Ekiti State Ministry of Agriculture, they gave us a list of registered farmers in Ekiti State, and it’s not only their names, it has the telephone numbers of everybody including the National Identification Numbers (NIN) of every farmer that is registered with the State government. So we collected the list for Ekiti Central.
“The list is blind because it doesn’t know any political party. It doesn’t know any man or woman. It is the list of registered farmers in Ekiti Central, provided by Ekiti State Government through the Ministry of Agriculture.This is a fair list that works for everybody. In addition to the list, we also collected a list of farmers’ associations. So what we are doing here is to make sure that we distribute based on the list given to us by Ekiti State Government and the list provided by the farmers’ associations.
“On my own, I also added a few, like Ekiti State House of Assembly, where I directed that they should give each member of the House of Assembly ten bags including the clerk of the State House of Assembly. Also, all the 39 traditional rulers in Ekiti Central, we also taking fertilizers to their palaces and other interest groups.
“You don’t have to struggle for anything. Your name is already here and the reason that you are here is just for us to have symbol that we did this and those of you here would go home with your fertilizer. To ensure those of you who are here are able to collect your fertilizer and transport them back home, even though, it’s not money we are distributing but fertilizer, I have instructed that one million naira should be given to each of the five local governments in the district and the local council development areas under the local governments, one million naira.
“The local government chairmen will know how to share it for them just to help ease the movement of the fertilizers.The entire five thousand bags of fertilizer I am sharing among you, not in my name but in the name of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.” Bamidele said.
The distinguished Senator remarked that government is encouraging everybody to get involved in farming with the promise that they would also try to help them in every area that they can. But maintained that their cooperation is needed.
To guide against using the fertilizer for negative purposes, the Senate Leader urged the beneficiaries not to sell the them saying whoever that doesn’t need it shouldn’t bother to collect it.
Speaking on the recent allegation against him by some people, MOB who said there has been attempt by some enemies of progress to deliberately malign his character in the last few days, said they have been trying so much to make him look like a bad person, but said that he’s not so worried as he knows that justice would surely prevail.
“Some people have said I am against Yoruba interest, that I don’t want to support regional government. Let me say for the record, as of today, Monday 7th October, 2024, there’s no bill before the Senate to debate on regarding regionalism. So all the talk that I am opposed to regionalism is fake news and unfounded. We have not heard any paper to debate on”.
The Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Agriculture in the State, Engr. Olugbenga Odesanmi, who represented the state governor, Mr. Biodun Oyebanji at the event, urged the beneficiaries to keep to the instructions issued by the senator by making judicious use of the fertilizer and not to sell them.
