ASHENEWS reports that the former Sokoto State Governor, Attahiru Bafarawa has revealed that farmers in the state, and his village now pay bandits in order to gain access to their farmlands.
He made the revelation while fielding questions from journalists at his Sokoto residence on Sunday.
Bafarawa said his 10,000-hectare farmland of 30 years in Birnin Gwari, Birnin Gwari local government of Kaduna state, where he cultivates a maize to service his flour mills company, has remained inaccessible in the past three years due to the activities of bandits.
The former governor warned that if President Bola Tinubu failed to tackle the situation, his food security agenda would be a mirage and the country may suffer severe crises.
According to him, it would be difficult to determine where the people would get their food from, in a situation where farmers can no longer have access to their farms.
“In my locality, because I don’t know about other localities, right now in my village Bafarawa, even if we want to farm, we have to seek permission from the bandits.
“They have to give us the portion of land to use for our farming. The farms are there but, the bandits are not allowing the farmers to work on their farms. It is a serious matter,” Bafarawa said.
He stressed that foodstuffs can only be available in abundance when there is peace and security, adding however, since many farmers were no longer able to farm, the country should not expect any appreciable harvest.
He said that there is so much pressure on the farmers to meet demands as the number of mouths to feed are increasing daily as a result of population increase.
