By Roseline Okakah

Ondo State Government has called on the Federal Government to support the establishment of state police to address  farmers’ safety.

The Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Agric and Agric Business, Pastor Akin Olotu, made the call in an interview with The Hope in Akure.

Olotu expressed concern about the ongoing assault on farmers and farms despite the efforts of Amotekun in Ondo State.

According to him, the present security architecture in the country is insufficient to meet the security needs of farmers.

“Another thing that is very critical and underreported is the assaults on farmers and farms in the country”.

“Farmers are still being attacked in their farms, it is not just in the northern part of the country”.

“In Ondo State today, the attacks are severe despite what Amotekun is doing”.

“The present security architecture is not adequate, security is local, why are we not having state police”?

“I still don’t know why that cannot be done. We are not lazy people, we know the right thing, this country can move forward, we only need to do the right thing,” Olotu stressed.

He also advised the Federal Government to operate agriculture on regional basis to transform the nation’s economy.

He expressed confidence in the President’s intentions to reposition the nation and emphasize the need for collaborative efforts to transform the economy.

The SSA suggested that the six geographical zones should identify areas of their comparative advantages and formulate agricultural plans accordingly.

“Mr President would look at how he is going to support the six geographical zones”.

Let’s have regional offices, decentralize agricultural programmes that we have at federal level”.

Concentrate on areas that have direct impact on the nation. If I am privileged to advice Mr President, I will advise him to set measurable targets, monitor and see how it is being implemented”.

“That is the way I am looking at it and the earlier  the better for us,” Olotu stated.

Speaking on financial matters, Akin Olotu acknowledged the abuse of funds disbursed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for agricultural projects.

However, he cautioned against discarding the initiative entirely, suggesting the creation of a separate credit window for specialized commodities.

He also advocated  power devolution within the Bank of Agriculture and Bank of Industry, proposing regional operations with periodic meetings at the headquarters.