Embrace Agriculture To Mitigate Famine, Poverty-Bamisile
Honourable Femi Bamisile, a member of the House of Representatives, has urged Nigerians, especially the youths, to embrace agriculture to mitigate famine and poverty and also with a view to making the country the food basket of Africa.
He however lauded President Muhammadu Buhari on what he said was his huge investment in farming to bail the country out of famine and poverty.
Bamisile, an All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker representing Ekiti South Federal Constituency 2 and chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), said these while donating fertilisers worth N200 million to farmers across the 177 wards in Ekiti.
He said his decision to give out fertilizers to farmers was informed by the to encourage every productive Ekiti citizen to be encouraged to go into farming to reduce poverty and unemployment.
“President Muhammadu Buhari had said several times that we need to diversify from oil and embrace farming where the Nigerian populace and Ekiti in particular has high comparative advantage,” he said.
Bamisile, a governorship aspirant on the ticket of the APC in Ekiti, said he is not rattled by the rumoured endorsement of the immediate past Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Honourable Abiodun Oyebanji, for the 2022 governorship race
The federal lawmaker said he remains one of the most experienced grassroot politicians in the state, adding that such an endorsement cannot be a source of threat or worry to him.
Speaking on the agitation for zoning of the governorship tickets Ekiti South Senatorial District, Bamisile said it would be a costly mistake for the APC to ignore the deafening calls by members from the district.
He said he would go into the race and ensure that he wins the governorship ticket during the APC primary, scheduled for 22 January, 2022, to give the people of Ekiti South their deserved reckoning in Ekiti politics.
“I am a veteran in politics and one of the most experienced grassroot politicians in Ekiti politics. I know what politics entails.
“In the last governorship election in 2018, Governor Kayode Fayemi won with less than 19,000 votes, which was the least margin in the history of governorship in the state. So, someone like me cannot be troubled by any election.
“If the Nigerian populace are saying that, after eight years of Presidency in the North, power should return to the South, I see no reason why, after 24 years of democracy in Ekiti, a particular zone is still being sidelined. This really baffles me,” he said.
Bamisile said he takes respite in the fact that the national leadership of the party, under Governor Mai Mala Buni, had promised a free, fair and credible primary, saying he has nothing to fear with this promise.
“The national leader of our party has told us that the primary will be conducted. The party does not state that we have lost just because of any excuse. therefore, let us wait and see.an had spoken; let us wait for God to do His own,” he added.
Responding on behalf of the beneficiaries, Chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Ekiti State Chapter, Mr Adebola Alagbada, applauded Bamisile’s gesture, saying the generous donation would boost food production in Ekiti and indirectly have impact on the country as a whole.
