The House of Representatives has raised serious concerns over the non-release of N174.251 billion agricultural intervention funds, describing the delay as a major setback to Nigeria’s food security and farming productivity.
The resolution followed a motion on urgent public importance sponsored by Hon. Bello Ka’oje, who stated that the withheld funds, already disbursed to the Federation Account, were meant for the National Agriculture Growth Scheme Agro-pocket (NAGS-AP) Project and the Food Security Emergency Support Loan.
According to Ka’oje, the delay has prevented Nigeria from accessing about $200 million under the African Development Bank’s Result Based Financing.
Details presented to the House showed that N55.29 billion from the AfDB and N118.95 billion from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) remain undisbursed, despite being allocated to support 280,000 wheat farmers, 150,000 rice farmers, and 550,000 smallholder farmers for the 2024/2025 and 2025/2026 farming seasons.
Hon. Ka’oje highlighted that the non-release of these funds has left farmers stranded without critical inputs, reducing output for the affected seasons.
He warned that the upcoming 2026 farming season could also be negatively impacted if the funds are not promptly released.
The House has mandated its Committee on Agricultural Production and Services to investigate the circumstances surrounding the non-release and report back within two weeks.
The committee is expected to ensure that the funds are transferred to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security for immediate implementation.
