The Lagos State Government, through the Centre for Rural Development, donated a variety of small-scale farm tools to farmers in the state’s rural communities.
While giving the tools to the beneficiaries, Dr. Nurudeen Lanre-Agbaje, Special Adviser on Rural Development, reaffirmed Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s commitment to continuing to support farmers in the state.
According to a Sunday statement, Agbaje stated that “the move is towards delivering good governance by ensuring food sufficiency, promoting self-reliance, and an accelerated socio-economic transformation of Lagos State.”
Agbaje charged the beneficiaries to productively use the tools for greater farm produce, explaining that “the tools were purchased with taxpayers’ money and, as such, must be used productively.”
He also stated that the government, through CERUD, was open to recommendations from farmers on other areas of support and collaboration to ensure food availability at a reasonable price for the state’s population.
Speaking at the ceremony, Kikelomo Bolarinwa, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy Affairs, and Rural Development, urged the receivers of the instruments not to undermine the government’s generosity by selling the tools for instant financial gain.
She went on to say that the multiplier effects of using the tools for their original purpose were extensive and long-lasting.
She argued that they should be viewed as catalysts for the quick transformation of the beneficiaries’ socioeconomic lives.
Some of the recipients expressed gratitude to the government, promising not to undermine the aim of the gesture by putting the instruments to constructive use to increase farm productivity.
