Wike: Agric Sector Working Because of Ministers' PDP Background

Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike of Rivers State has linked the progress made in the agriculture sector of Nige­ria to the appointment of two Min­isters of Agriculture with strong backgrounds in the People’s Dem­ocratic Party (PDP) before they de­fected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Governor Wike made the as­sertion at the opening of the 42nd Regular Meeting of the National Council on Agriculture and Rural Development, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

The governor remarked that the foresight and national views being exhibited by the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh and the Minister of State for Agri­culture, Senator Heineken Lokpobi­ri, had proved that they imbibed the culture of service when they were in the PDP.
He said: “Agriculture is work­ing because they have good minis­ters from a sound background. The Minister of Agriculture was a for­mer National Chairman of the PDP while the Minister of State for Agri­culture was a senator under the PDP. Their background has helped them.”

“You can see the kind of prod­ucts that PDP has. We have sent them on Sabbatical to help other people. When children are produc­tive, you ask who are their parents?
“We have products who re­ceived good upbringing. Their par­ents, the PDP, gave them quality par­enting”.
On the development of agricul­ture in Rivers State, Governor Wike said that his administration will take full advantage of the Federal Gov­ernment’s agriculture initiatives, in­cluding the commercial agricultural credit scheme and the Anchor Bor­rowers Programme.
He said that the state govern­ment will galvanise the state into becoming a major player in the ag­ricultural sector.
The governor stressed that his administration will review its agri­cultural policy for the development of the sector.
Wike said: “In Rivers State, gov­ernment has over the years chan­nelled enormous public funds into the development of agriculture with­out commensurable outcomes.
“For this reason, we have decid­ed to review our agricultural policies and programmes to ensure that ef­forts, funds and inputs are not wast­ed for the sake of political expedien­cy, as has been the case in the past.”
“This having been said, it is im­portant to emphasise that the agri­cultural potential of Rivers State is clearly enormous. Furthermore, be­ing the host to two of the largest fer­tiliser production plants in the Af­rican continent gives us additional horizontal advantages for the ad­vancement of this sector in the state”.
In his address, Ogbeh called for the expansion of research in the ag­ricultural sector to boost food pro­duction.
He said that the Federal Gov­ernment will ensure that farmers who require credit for commercial farming would get it.
Similarly, Lokpobiri said that the Federal Government was treat­ing agriculture as a business through public enabled but private initiatives.
The commissioners for agricul­ture from the 36 states of the federa­tion attended the meeting.