ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – Despite the launching of the Agriculture a Roadmap on Monday by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, there are indications that all is not well at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as there seems to be crisis of confidence and mistrust among that principal officers in charge of the ministry. They are the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh; Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri and the permanent secretary in the ministry, Dr. Shehu Ahmad.
Sundiata Post investigation reveals that a major crisis is currently brewing in the ministry in a way that is capable of jeopardising the diversification programme of the Federal Government if nothing is urgently done. A close source in the ministry told Sundiata Post that the minister, Chief Audu Ogbeh is running the affairs of the ministry with his close aides to the exclusion of other top officials of the ministry such as the minister of state, Heineken Lokpobiri and the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Shehu Ahmad. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said even the 10,000 metric tonnes of grains which President Muhammadu Buhari directed for release to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) is in jeopardy. According to the source, Ogbeh allegedly single-handedly contracted a haulage company that did not have up to 20 trailers to transport the grains when what was needed was a company with up to 355 trailers. The haulage company, it was discovered, decided to sublet the contract to others and in the process about 115 trailers got missing. Both Lokpobiri and the Permanent Secretary did not know about it, the source said.
According to the source, there was no clear cut delineation of functions between the minister and the minister of state when they came on board, adding that though there were efforts to share responsibility Ogbeh didn’t allow it, preferring to run the ministry with his aides. “And in most cases policy matters are handled by Ogbeh without recourse to Lokpobiri”, the source said. For example, the Agric Roadmap approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) three weeks ago and launched on Monday was funded by World Bank to the tune of $65m. Ogbeh appointed a committee headed by one of his aides, who now wrote memo to some directors to be members of the roadmap committee. They spent two weeks preparing the roadmap. Both Lokpobiri and the permanent secretary, Dr Shehu Ahmad were not informed. When the committee was to submit its report to the ministry both Lokpobiri and Ahmad refused to attend,” the source said.
The source also said that when the roadmap was to be submitted to FEC both Lokpobiri and Ahmad did not know about it. He (Lokpobiri) got to know about it on the floor of FEC. “After FEC approval the ministry wanted to launch the Agric Roadmap. Lokpobiri did not know until a few days to Aug 8 which was initial date fixed for the launch. He again protested. Later they put it off and fixed August 15 but the minister of state was not briefed until moments before the launch on Monday,” the source further said.
There are also allegations against Lokpobiri. The source told Sundiata Post that with regard to the management of grains in the strategic grains reserve allocation was given to Lokpobiri and he asked one Mohammed Sadiq Abubakar to look for buyers. He got buyers and the grains were sold. The source told Sundiata Post that there was an agreement that Sadiq would be given 5% of the proceeds and the whole deal was N138m. Sadiq was said to have connected the buyer to the director in charge of Lokpobiri’s office, Mrs Juliet Jiwah. After the grains had been sold and the money received, the 5% was not paid to Sadiq. He was given less than N1m. “And the man has been complaining to federal lawmakers from his place,” Sundiata Post was told. Also, under the GES (Growth Enhancement Scheme initiated by the last administration) suppliers of fertiliser were to be paid. The debts that had accumulated from last administration to the present has run into billions of naira. The source alleged that the two ministers (Ogbeh and Lokpobiri) instead of spreading the money across board when there was approval for payment decided to recommend only two companies, namely Notore and Indorama to the finance minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun for payment. Money paid to the two companies, according to the source is N15bn. The source also said the suppliers alleged that the ministers collected N2bn to recommend the two companies for payment but Sundiata Post could not verify this as at press time.
When contacted, Mr. Tony Ohaeri, the Director of Information in the ministry, denied knowledge of any acrimony between the minister, minister of state and permanent secretary. He told Sundiata Post that the three men all work harmoniously.