The Federal Government, on Tuesday, ordered the immediate shut-down of the Kano State Fertilizer Company (KASCO) Ltd over alleged adulterating of fertilisers and manually mixing the components of the NKP 20:10:10 blend of the agricultural input.
The order to close the company came from the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative and the National Sovereign Investment Agency (NSIA), through its subsidiary, NAIC-NPK Ltd.
KASCO, headed by Bala Inua, a close friend of the state governor, Alhaji Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, was discovered, during a sting operation, to have adulterated the NPK 20:10:10 blend of fertiliser and selling same to unsuspecting members of the public.
In a video circulating on the social media, labourers at the factory were seen manually mixing fertiliser raw materials with shovels and using same to fill fertilizer bags on the factory floor.
Hazardous chemicals are used to blend fertilizers and if badly handled, could endanger the lives of people. When not in its right proportions, the chemicals could also destroy the soil and permanently compromise its ability for valuable crop yield.
It Quick News Africa understands that the state government owns two fertiliser blending plants but has allegedly abandoned because it could not maintain them properly.
A source hinted that, besides adulteration, there are also fears that manual handling of fertiliser blending may provide access to unauthorized people to some raw materials such as Urea ammonium nitrate that could be used for illegal purposes.
This is the reason, the source said, why the Federal Government, through the NSWA, exercised control of the chemicals to ensure they do not end up in the wrong hands.
“Adulteration of fertilisers has spiked in some parts of the country. A few weeks ago, the Nigeria Police Force, Niger State Command, intercepted a truck-load of adulterated fertilisers heading to Bida from Minna, the state capital.”
According to the State Police Public Relations Officer, Wasiu Abiodun, the discovery was made by policemen attached to the Kpakungu Division of the state, while on patrol along the Kpakungu-Bida Road.
Abiodun said investigations led to the arrest of the driver of the vehicle and the owner of the factory where the alleged adulteration of fertilisers was taking place, one Alhaji Maikudi Abdullahi and 456 bags of the adulterated fertiliser was recovered from this factory.
The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) through its subsidiary, NAIC-NPK Ltd is in charge of the implementation of the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI), an initiative of the Federal Government, designed to ensure high-value fertilisers are made available to Nigerian farmers at affordable costs. It also aims at delivering significant quantities of NPK (20:10:10) fertilizers in time to farmers for wet season farming.
