By SADIQ ABUBAKAR, Maiduguri –
Despite the nationwide protests, the House of Representatives Member, Jere Federal Constituency of Borno State, Hon. Ahmed Satomi has flagged off the distribution of assorted 1,650 bags of 50kg fertilizer and rice to thousands of people across the 12 wards.
The exercise which is in phases was unveiled on Monday in Maiduguri, where a total of about 1,650 real and peasant farmers including People With Disabilities (PWDs) got a bag of NPK fertilizer each.
The second phase is slated to take place the next day (Tuesday), tagged ‘Community Food Outreach’ (CFO), where the target beneficiaries are the downtrodden.
Satomi said the gesture is a short term intervention, going by the live broadcast of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s general plan to Nigerians on how to halt the nationwide protest which is a long term approach.
“As you know Jere is one of the volatile constituency in Borno state, but I want to commend Governor Babagana Zulum, the security agencies and all stakeholders for bringing sanity to what happened on the first day of the nationwide protests.
” We have been under a 24-hour curfew, but we thank God that now peace have returned and people are going about their normal businesses. I am on holiday and usually I don’t go anywhere but to come and mingle with my people when on break. I have been with them and I thank them for how they have been conducting themselves in this trying moment.
” As their representative at the national assembly, I have decided to continue touching their lives with the little resources at my disposal, and that is why we are here today.
” It will interest you to know that this is a routine event, more so, government at the state and federal level are all advocating to all members of the national assembly to come out and give our support in cushioning the current economic hardships in the country, and so, this time around, i am not giving out only palliatives, but we are also giving our genuine farmers fertilizers to boost their agricultural productivity and have a bumper harvest this season.
“The beneficiaries were carefully selected devoid of any ethnic, political or religious consideration, as you can see the youths, women, the elderly and less privileged ones are the recipient of these gesture.
“Some of these items were donated to us by the Federal Government and we are expecting more so as to ameliorate the current economic challenges of our people. I want to use this opportunity to call on all my colleagues to do the same in their constituency, because an idle mind is a devil’s workshop. The ongoing protests is a challenge and a wake up call to us in government.
“The CFO programme we are going to unveil tomorrow is for the people that dont have access to government, especially the downtrodden, we are going to engage all stakeholders in each community, especially the Imams, Pastors, Traditional rulers, leaders of youths, women and business associations to ensure that everyone benefit from the food palliatives”. Satomi stated .
He therefore applauded the people for conducting themselves peacefully by opting out of the protests, even as he assured them that he will continue to meet their yearnings and aspirations inline with his campaign promises.
In their vote of thanks, some farmers mostly peasant ones including a disabled, Jubrin Isyaka, Abba Mohammed, Ibrahim Saidu Ali and Jamila Usman appreciated Hon. Satomi for the gesture, which they said would go along way in improving their agricultural productivity and empowerment.
