FMARD rectified N18.9 billion spent on land clearing N18.9bn spent on land preparation and bush clearing

The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) has denied spending N18.9 billion on land preparation and bush clearing during the COVID-19 lockdown, claiming that only N2.5 billion was used to clear 3,200 hectares of land across eight federal states. The eight states are Osun, Ekiti, Edo, Cross River, Kaduna, Kwara, Plateau, and Ogun, according to FMARD. Dr. Joel Oruche, the director of information at FMARD, explained in a statement on Wednesday that the ministry had never been contacted by the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts regarding any audit query. This comes after a committee report that claimed N18.9 billion was spent clearing brush during the COVID-19 pandemic.