The gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Oyo State, Engineer Seyi Makinde has described the state government’s policy on agriculture as “a ruse”.
He said it could not guarantee the state self sufficiency in food and cash crop production.
Makinde made this declaration on Wednesday while hosting members of the party from the 33 local government areas of the state who came to congratulate him on his election as the party’s flagbearer.
The PDP chieftain while speaking, condemned as “wasteful, the agricultural summit being organised by the state government” which kicks off in Ibadan today (Thursday).
He described it as “an irrelevant extravaganza”.
He added that the idea of the summit was borne out of lack of political will and creativity by the Senator Abiola Ajimobi led administration in the state.
Makinde said, “The idea of the summit was borne out of lack of political will and creativity because similar talk shops have taken place at Iseyin, Ibadan and Awe which were heralded with fanfare in the past six years with nothing to show for it.
“During past summit, government promised to provide 3 million jobs through what it called Youth Empowerment in Agric Programme (YEAP) and enhance the status of Oke Ogun as the food basket of Oyo State.
“None of these promises came to reality with the roads in Oke Ogun getting worse and the area suffering neglect like never before.
“It is quite worrisome that the 7 years of APC in the state failed to develop agriculture sector which should be the mainstay of the state economy.
“Instead of spending millions of naira and collecting more from corporate sponsors which will end up in private pockets, government should have assisted farmers through accessible, payable interest credit facilities and give technical support for production and warehousing”.
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