States and local governments in the South-South and South East zones, have been accused by the Fertiliser Monitoring Task Force put in place by the Federal Government of not cooperating in the effort to effectively distribute the commodity to farmers in their domains.

The chairman of the Task Force, Chidi Nkwonta said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Thursday, that government officials in Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Abia and Imo states were resisting efforts to ensure effective distribution of fertiliser to farmers.

"There is apathy on the part of state governments and local governments as they are resisting all efforts to make the scheme a success. The states in the South-South - Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom - as well as Abia and Imo, are the most chaotic states. We have a full report; we have evidence on the consignment we have impounded; we have confessional statements from drivers and some officials interrogated.

"The state governments have sold all the fertiliser; yes I say this on good authority; I say it categorically. As a matter of fact, one of the major contractors told us that the Rivers State officials had approached them to just divert the consignment from the plant," he said.

Mr. Nkwonta said Bayelsa and Rivers states have received more than 50 percent of their allocations, but investigation revealed that nothing has been given to farmers. A report has been submitted to the Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources, Sayyadi Ruma, on the affected states.

A farm owner in Akwukwu, Delta State, Joseph Medoh said fertilizer is rarely distributed to farmers in the state. He narrated his experience about going to his local government to ask for fertilizer.

He went to the office of the man in charge of the distribution to ask for fertilizer, explaining that as a chief in the town, he should be entitled to allocation of some bags of fertilizer.

The man was surprised and had to plead with him, saying that they did not have any fertilizer because the people have not been coming to ask for the commodity.

"The man promised they would put my name down for next year because they do not have any fertilizer in the state again. The fertilizer allocation for the state has become a quick means of making money for government officials in charge of the commodity, as the fertilizer is sold off to merchants who then take them to the north for resale because the people in the south-south do not know the use of it. I had to buy the fertilizer to use on my farm because the local government council in charge of fertilizer for the state do not disburse fertilizers to the farmers.

"The south-south people rarely use fertilizer on their farms. This is because of the fertile nature of the land and most people in the communities practise bush fallowing, so most of them do not to know how to apply it. The people need to be re-oriented on the use of the commodity and how the use of fertilizer can help improve their output. Most of them believe because the yields from their farms are good, they do not need fertilizer, not knowing that the application of fertilizer will help enhance their yields," he said.

Reacting to the development, Mr. Ruma said the government was prepared for the challenges having realised that there would be resistance to an effective monitoring and distribution system.

"The government will study the report and all the allegations and respond appropriately. The solution to efficiency is to reduce the number of briefcase contractors and replace them with the technical competence to undertake delivery. The culprits will also be prosecuted and the affected trucks would be confiscated and the commodities returned to the rightful states for distribution," he said.

Mr. Ruma said the task force was appointed by the government in order to make fertilizer diversion an unprofitable business for people in it.

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