By N-KATALYST
PRESS RELEASE – 5th January 2013
N-Katalyst notes with concern the announcement by the Federal
Government to spend sixty billion Naira (N60bn) to purchase ten million phones
for farmers. We appreciate government efforts in empowering Nigerian farmers,
but we believe this might not be the best way to get value for money that is
invested to promote agriculture.
First, the proposed cost per telephone is higher than the going
rate in the market. Secondly, why are we starting with a huge contract instead
of developing the on-going electronic wallet system for fertilizer
distribution? Thirdly, what research has been done to show that there are ten
million farmers who need to be supplied with cell phones? There are 110 million
cell phones in Nigeria and most of those willing and capable of using it
already possess them?
Has anybody asked the farmers whether they want free handsets
which most of them already have or some other enabling arrangement such as
subsidized or free air time? Finally, has government considered what 60 billion
Naira can do in the area of storage facilities, farm implements, roads, pest
control, etc before deciding to channel such huge amount to give out a mega
contract that at the end of the day will only benefit those giving out the
contract?
The use of phones for agricultural purposes is not new. Small
holder farmers in different African countries - Ghana, Senegal, Rwanda, etc,
are making use of it in sharing information such as extension services, market
information etc. In Nigeria, it is already in use by some farmers. In Dawanau
grains market in Kano, (the biggest in West Africa), farmers and traders have
access to regional market information. They used a specialized package for such
information sharing across West Africa. It is such programmes on developing
programmes for farmer’s benefit that Government should place its attention on
rather than on purchasing the hard ware.
Following a spate of criticisms at Government plans on this
matter, the Minister of Agriculture issues a clarification that has not
clarified anything. He said his permanent secretary was misquoted and he has
not approved 60 billion Naira for the purchase of the phones. He argued that
Government policy is “to get mobile phones to farmers, as part of its agricultural
transformation agenda, to connect farmers to information, expand their access
to markets, improve their access to savings and loans, and help them adapt to
climate change dynamics that affect them and their livelihoods.”
He added however that the bulk of the 110 million cell phones in
Nigeria are in the urban areas. He then clearly stated that from 2013,
government intends to distribute 10 million phones to farmers which will be
financed through a MoU signed between the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of
Communications Technology and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development, with the Ministry of Women Affairs. Out of the 10 million phones,
5 million will go to women he added. This means that the contract for the
purchase and distribution of the phones will go ahead.
The plan by government to spend 60 billion Naira to purchase 10 million phones
shows clearly the limitations of government approach to policy making in
general and how this particular policy decision has not been thought through.
The Nigerian state needs to think more seriously about the relative value of
policy options and the buy in of beneficiaries before she jumps to large
contract giving "solutions".
In a policy of this nature, government must talk to real farmers
in villages and not sit in the office and look for an opportunity for a large
contract award that does not proffer solutions to the real challenges being
faced. Spending such huge resources on mobile phones by a ministry with one of
the least resource allocation in the 2013 budget is unacceptable. Meanwhile,
what happens to the WB rural telephony project?
The reason for that project was to serve agricultural purposes;
huge resources have been invested in the last decade. Rather than spending all
this money on cell phones, one option is for Government to speed up the
implementation of a fee-free license for community radio so that farming
communities could establish community radio stations that could, among other
things, provide them access to market information as well as a voice to
contribute to national dialogue.
N-Katalyst calls on the Government of President Goodluck
Jonathan to desist from such a policy that misplaces priorities and encourages
wasteful spending especially at a time government wants to borrow money to
implement development projects. We also call on the National Assembly as a
matter of urgency to prevail on President Goodluck Jonathan to stop the
Minister of Agriculture immediately as it sends wrong signals to other
countries that Nigeria does not see anything wrong in wasting her resources on
misplaced priorities.
Jibrin
Ibrahim; Saudatu Mahdi; Innocent Chukwuma; Ayisha Osori; Yunusa Yau; Asma’u
Joda; Nasir El-Rufai; Chris Kwaja; Sa’ida Saad; Saka Azimazi
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