Suppliers fault Presidency’s claim on N65bn fertiliser payment

The Organic Fertiliser Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (OFPSAN) has discredited a statement credited to the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Mallam Garba Shehu, that the federal government had settled the N65bn debt owed fertiliser suppliers in the country.

The presidential aide had reportedly berated the past administration for accumulating a debt of N65 billion owed fertiliser suppliers, saying the present administration had paid off the debt to enable suppliers bring fertiliser to farmers.

But the association in a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, described the claim as false because the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development had till date paid only N20bn out of the verified N65bn. The letter said the balance of N45bn was yet to be released.

The letter signed by the association’s National Chairman, Alhaji Bilya Sanda and National Secretary, Noel Keyen, recalled that a stakeholders’ meeting held last month with the agric ministry ended without an outright commitment on the likely date for the settlement of the debt which it said had negatively affected this year’s farming season. The association pleaded with the president to ensure immediate compliance with his earlier directive to the minister of finance that the debt be paid.