.jpeg "N4 billion Anchor Borrowers' Loan: APC leader calls on Tinubu to look into Niger Government")
During a live radio programme on Tuesday, Vatsa made the following statement, which was monitored by DAILY POST in Minna, the capital of Niger State.
President Tinubu expressed his concern with the disbursement of billions of naira through the scheme, with the Niger State government receiving a total of N4 billion.
Vatsa indicated during a broadcast that in the event of the President's decision to investigate the allocation of the Anchor Borrowers fund in Niger State, there is a vested interest in identifying the specific farmers who received benefits from this fund in the aforementioned state.
Do the aforementioned farmers refer to those who were displaced from their farms and ancestral residences by criminal elements, or do they pertain to the farmers associated with the Government House and overseeing ministries?
The ex-publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Niger state expressed that the allocation strategy for the state's N4 billion Anchor Borrowers fund resulted in a significant conflict among the privileged "air-conditioned farmers," while the actual intended beneficiaries, who were the genuine farmers, resorted to manual tools such as hoes, cutlasses, and even bare hands to cultivate their farms in areas unaffected by criminal activities.
The individual maintained that the system was originally conceived with good intentions, but certain state administrations, such as Niger State, seized control of the funds and openly redirected them, to the harm of impoverished farmers across the nation.
Vatsa cautioned that if the President were to restrict his investigation of the scheme solely to states governed by opposition parties, it would be detrimental to the nation and would constitute a disservice.