Founder of Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti, ABUAD, Aare
Afe Babalola, SAN, yesterday, tasked President Bola Tinubu to ensure that local
government areas in the country receive their allocations directly from the
federation account, to revive agriculture and boost the economy.
He lamented that the local councils have remained
ineffective over the years in bringing development to the people, due to the
activities of the governors who allegedly hijacked their allocations.
Babalola spoke, while declaring open the eighth edition of
the Afe Babalola Agricultural Expo, ABAEX, an annual gathering of farmers,
where they would be empowered by the ABUAD founder.
He explained that releasing funds to the council areas would
enable the administrators to contribute to the socioeconomic development of the
communities, especially supporting farmers.
His words: “I am suggesting that local government areas
should be empowered. Each local government should set up farming equipment for
farmers to hire. They should also earmark large hectares of land for the
farmers to farm.
“When I was a councillor, in those days, local government
funds used to come directly to them. We all know what has been happening to
their money.
“I think the current president (Bola Tinubu) should do all
he can to ensure that local government allocation gets to them directly and not
through the governors because they (governors) steal a lot. No parent will send
their children to school, some to masters and PhD level, only to come back and
be asked to use cutlass to farm.
“The best the government can do now to revive agriculture is
to buy modern implements to encourage people to farm. If local government funds
get to them they will be able to buy tractors for the people to rent it.”
In his opening remarks, the chairman of the Local Organizing
Committee, Professor Abiodun Ojo, said that the vision of ABAEX is essentially
to encourage excellence and sustainable performance among the farmers in Ekiti
State, while at the same time increasing value addition across all agricultural
products.
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