The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, on Tuesday, said that the ministry has no plan to probe the administration of the former Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina.
This is just as the minister said that the only thing the ministry will do is to carry out a verification exercise for the payment of contractors, who supplied various farm inputs during Adesina-led administration.
Ogbeh made this known while reacting to recent publications in the national dailies which probing of Adesina-led administration was credited to him.
The minister said that the reason for the verification was as a result of some outrageous payments the contractors were requesting to be paid for supplying seeds during the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme.
“There is no probe of Adesina-led administration here, absolutely non, if there was reason to probe, we would have said that long ago,” he said
“Verification goes on all the time in government and even when Adesina was here, he verified bills before he paid because some of the bills submitted by people are sometimes a little on the high side and we don’t have all the money to pay and even if we did, this is public money, you don’t just pay because somebody gave you a bill,” he said
Ogbeh further said that the ministry is proud of the work Dr Adesina left behind and will not engage in policies that will truncate the work,
“Let’s put this matter to rest, this ministry is not probing Dr Adesina, indeed, we are proud of the work he left behind and that is why I said that we intend not to engage in any policy somersault but will continue to deepen and widen the programmes he left behind.
“We are proud of his achievements and we want to support him all the way to succeed in what he is doing, so, once again, let it be clear, we never at anytime said we are probing his administration but verification goes on, it went on under him, it will go on now and it will go on forever when it comes to the issues of paying contractors for services rendered,” he added.
Tribune.
This is just as the minister said that the only thing the ministry will do is to carry out a verification exercise for the payment of contractors, who supplied various farm inputs during Adesina-led administration.
Ogbeh made this known while reacting to recent publications in the national dailies which probing of Adesina-led administration was credited to him.
The minister said that the reason for the verification was as a result of some outrageous payments the contractors were requesting to be paid for supplying seeds during the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme.
“There is no probe of Adesina-led administration here, absolutely non, if there was reason to probe, we would have said that long ago,” he said
“Verification goes on all the time in government and even when Adesina was here, he verified bills before he paid because some of the bills submitted by people are sometimes a little on the high side and we don’t have all the money to pay and even if we did, this is public money, you don’t just pay because somebody gave you a bill,” he said
Ogbeh further said that the ministry is proud of the work Dr Adesina left behind and will not engage in policies that will truncate the work,
“Let’s put this matter to rest, this ministry is not probing Dr Adesina, indeed, we are proud of the work he left behind and that is why I said that we intend not to engage in any policy somersault but will continue to deepen and widen the programmes he left behind.
“We are proud of his achievements and we want to support him all the way to succeed in what he is doing, so, once again, let it be clear, we never at anytime said we are probing his administration but verification goes on, it went on under him, it will go on now and it will go on forever when it comes to the issues of paying contractors for services rendered,” he added.
Tribune.
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