He is named the king of tractors. Governor Mohammed Umar Bago, the helmsman of Niger State, has pushed himself to the forefront as the chief farmer of his state. He is called farmer governor. Niger State is such a vast land that it is big enough to feed the whole country. The Nigerian Institute of International Affairs invited him to give a keynote address on World Food Day. It was not a day to make a barn of rice but to say that he has knotted a deal with Dangote for over a trillion Naira farm. It is not a day to feed Lagos, but he announced a deal with the BOS of Lagos, Babajide Sanwo-Olu for a N500 billion deal to make Niger State the farm and Lagos the barn. Lagos has the top appetite in the nation, so it made sense for food and mouth to coalesce.
He also spoke of his state as the capital of shea in the world, and President Bola Tinubu has proclaimed no to shea export. So, we can take it through its full value chain to the consumer. His address raises a point, though. He spoke of many crops going to waste for lack of use. How can excess cohabit with hunger? That is why he stresses, in tandem with many like Kaduna’s Governor Uba Sani, for infrastructure, storage and investment. The king of tractor is undertaking a royal trip to food sufficiency. Safe trip, farmer governor.
