The last may not have been heard on the 10 million phones the Nigerian government is planning to procure and distribute to the nation’s farmers after the nation’s Agriculture Minister, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, said in spite of the criticism, he still believes the devices are needed.
Adesina described the media criticism that has trailed the policy as the handiwork of “distractors” who said the government intend to spend 60 billion naira (US$382,897) to buy the mobile phones.
He said his ministry remains committed to rebuilding “the broken walls of Nigeria’s agriculture and unlock wealth and opportunities for our farmers”.
Prior to his appointment as the Agriculture Minister, he said the ministry was characterised with a corrupt and totally inefficient fertilizer sector which was costing the government huge sums of money in carrying out direct procurement and distribution of subsidised fertilizers which only got to less than 11 percent of the farmers.
