A Member of the House of Representatives, Hon Femi Bamisile, has lauded President Muhammadu Buhari on his huge investment in farming to bail the country out of famine and poverty.

Bamisile, an All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker representing Ekiti South Federal Constituency 2, urged Nigerians, especially the youths, to embrace agriculture with a view to making the country the food basket of Africa.

The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), said this in Ado Ekiti on Monday, while donating fertilisers worth N200 million to farmers across the 177 wards in Ekiti.

The Ekiti East, Gbonyin, Ekiti South West, Emure, Ikere and Ise/Orun federal constituency 2 representative, stressed the need for every productive Ekiti citizen to be encouraged to go into farming to reduce poverty and unemployment, which he said informed his decision to give out fertilizer to farmers.

“President Muhammadu Buhari had said several times that we need to diversify from oil and embrace farming where the Nigerian populace and Ekiti in particular has high comparative advantage.”

Bamisile, who is also an APC governorship aspirant in Ekiti, said he is not rattled by the alleged endorsement of the immediate past Secretary to the State Government, Hon. Abiodun Oyebanji, for the 2022 governorship race.

Bamisile said he remains one of the most experienced grassroots politicians in the state and that such endorsement can’t be a source of threat or worry to him.

Speaking on the Ekiti South Senatorial district, agitation for zoning of the governorship tickets to the district, Bamisile, said that it would be a dangerous mistake for the APC to ignore the deafening calls by members from the South.

He said he would plunge into the race and ensure that he wins the APC governorship ticket during the APC primary of January 22, 2022, to give the people of the Ekiti South their deserved reckoning in Ekiti politics.

“I am a veteran in politics and one of the most experienced grassroots politicians in Ekiti politics. I know what politics entails.

“In the last governorship election in 2018, Gov. Fayemi won with less than 19,000 votes, which was the least margin in the history of governorship in the state. So, someone like me can’t be troubled by any election.

Bamisile added; “If the Nigerian populace are saying that after eight years of Presidency in the North, that power should return to the South, I see no reason why after 24 years of democracy in Ekiti, a particular zone is still being sidelined. This really baffles me.”

Bamisile said he had taken respite in the fact that the national leadership of the party under Gov. Mai Mala Buni, had promised a free, fair and credible primary, saying he has nothing to fear with this promise.

“The national leader of our party has told us that the primary will be conducted. The party does not state that we have lost just because of any excuse, therefore, let us wait and see, man had spoken, let us wait for God to do His own”.

Responding on behalf of all the beneficiaries, the Chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Ekiti chapter, Mr Adebola Alagbada, applauded Bamisile’s gesture, saying the generous donation would boost food production in Ekiti and indirectly have impact in the country as a whole.