FG fertiliser hijacked, now sold above official price

Similarly, farmers in the Federal Capital Territory are finding it difficult to access the FG NPK fertiliser as the product is hard to find in most of the area councils.

Farmers spoken to in Bwari, AMAC and Kwali area councils said the FG fertiliser is not available , saying they bought theirs in the open market at between N7,000 and N7,500 depending on the type.

The story was however different in Bauchi and Jigawa states, where the government subsidized input is not only being sold at the official price of N5,500 per bag but dealers are begging for patronage.

In Bauchi, an official of the state Agricultural Supply Company told Daily Trust that the commodity was available in all the local government areas but that patronage was low, noting, however that there was another brand of fertiliser selling at a lower price in the state.

In Jigawa, a farmer, Rufai Ahmed, confirmed that the Federal Government’s NPK fertiliser is available at the approved price of N5,500 in many shops in the state but that the price of other brands was high at the markets.

The situation is also the same in Kano and Rivers states as the fertiliser is being sold at the regulated price and even less at the open market in Rivers State as a bag of NPK goes for N5,000.

Ahmed Kwa, General Secretary of the Fertilizer Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN) - the anchor of the Federal Government’s fertilizer initiative - confirmed receiving reports of some people selling the fertilizer above the FG’s recommended price but added that it was happening at the market end.

“If a complainant wants to make a complaint it is not only through the whistleblower number, he can also report to the nearest police station, Civil Defence Corps office, State Security Service (SSS) office, or District Heads’ office, because all of them are represented in the Federal Government fertilizer programme. That is why all the security agencies are given the order to deal with any person selling the fertilizer above the fixed price.

“At the programme’s end, we have a small hitch of shortage of raw materials. That is what led to the shortfall of the products in the market in the last two weeks. The market is affected because the product was not very much available in the last two weeks. But we have now gotten raw materials and production has started and soon the product will flood the market again,” Kwa said.

Attempt to reach Kabiru Fara, Chairman, Agrodealers Association of Nigeria was not successful as he did not pick calls put to him.