Farmers in Maiduguri have lauded the initiative of the State Government in providing free bus rides for those, whose farms are located at the outskirts of Maiduguri town.
A cross section of farmers, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria in Maiduguri said, the gesture was a big relief to them and they remained grateful to the government and other stakeholders like the Borno Express Corporation.
“Many of us would have abandoned farming without this support from the government.
“Like me now, my farm is in Tungushe village and I need a minimum of N2,000 transport fare daily to go and come back.
“Our governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum and all those involved in initiating this programme since last year and still sustaining it this year deserve commendation and special prayers to continue to succeed,” Yusuf Lawan said.
A female farmer, Yagana Mohammed, said without the bus, she needed N800 daily to go to her farm.
“Where will I see N800 daily for transport fare? I would have abandoned farming,” Mohammad said.
She expressed satisfaction with the steady rainfall being recorded and prayed for bumper harvest in Borno and the nation in general for the needed relief against hunger.
“People are really committed to farming and we are getting the support from this administration.
“We pray for the needed security to cultivate more land as well as Allah’s blessings for bumper harvest.”
Abubakar Ibrahim, Yohanna Buba, Filibus Ajiya and Rakiya Simon, said they would have been spending nothing less than N3,000 daily to go to farm with their children, if the free bus service was not available
“Things won’t have been easy at all, this is one of the things any government that is really concerned about the masses and agriculture should be doing in this period,” Mr Ajiya said.
“Transportation has remained a key factor in the cost of everything with the removal of subsidy.
“It is a blessing to have transport at subsidized rate, by God’s grace we are even having it free in Borno.
“This is what good governance is all about.”
One of the drivers of the buses along Baga road, Ali Shettima said 16 buses were deployed along the road.
“We start work around 6am and each bus has the capacity of carrying 100 passengers including those standing.
“We are always around to take the farmers back home from 2.30pm to 4.00pm,” Mr Shettima said.
A director with Borno Express Corporation monitoring the exercise along Maiduguri – Damboa road, Mohammed Dahaya, said the route has the highest concentration of farmers, saying 50 buses were involved in the exercise plying four different routes.
“We also involved 15 tricycles known as jega and 15 Isuzus,” he said.
Mr Dahaya said there was a plan to expand the exercise to other axis, adding that the programme was in introduced in the 2023 cropping season and the one for 2024 started on July 11.
According to him, the buses along Damboa road conveys farmers as far as Dalwa village which is about 30 kilometres from Maiduguri.
(NAN)
