Farmers in Delta State have protested the distribution of the federal government’s grain palliatives.
The farmers hail from Burutu and Patani, in Warri North, Warri South, Warri South West, and Bomadi Local Government Areas of Delta State.
They threatened a massive protest in Asaba if Governor Sheriff Oborevwori did not correct the shortchange.
Led by Mr. Ganagana Francis, the Financial Secretary of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Delta State Chapter, said they were sidelined by Delta State government officials responsible for the distribution of the federal government’s grain palliatives for farmers in Ibusa last week.
Francis, also the President of the Ijaw Community in Asaba, who led the angry Ijaw farmers’ protest before the Ijaw Publishers’ Forum (IPF), said government officials deliberately sidelined Ijaw farmers and shared the bulk of the grain with their kinsmen in Delta Central, describing it as nepotism taken too far.
“In spite of the fact that Ijaw farmers stormed the distribution centre at Ibusa, they were not considered. Government officials were converting palliatives to commercial gain for themselves.
“Many of the people who received the palliatives from Delta Central were not farmers. They took them and commercialised the palliatives.
“We have visited the office of the secretary of the palliatives committee, Barr Egbo Jaro, about four times from Bomadi, Burutu, Patani, paying accommodation for the four times we visited him in Asaba, but he seems not to be listening to their pleas,” Francis disclosed.
However, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Sir Festus Ahon, denied the allegations, saying he would still make more findings on the matter.
Recall that the Delta State government distributed the first phase of the federal government’s grain palliatives last week in Ibusa, Oshimili North Local Government Area of the state.
