Bird Flu: Poultry Farmers Receive Compensation In Plateau State

Yakubu Busari

‪The Plateau state Poultry farmers who were affected by bird flu have started receiving compensations from the Federal Government.

‪The Chairman, Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) in Plateau, Mr John Dasar, disclosed that 30 affected farmers in the state had been compensated.

‪Dasar said that 99 affected farmers nationwide were certified and ready for compensation.

‪According to him, the payment will be in batches and those farmers in batches two and three are currently receiving compensation.

‪He appealed to those in batches four and five to exercise patience.

‪“some of our members have since last week started receiving their compensations through their various banks and I think it is a good thing for us.

“Out of the 99 farmers to be compensated nationwide in the second and third batches of the payment, 30 are from Plateau and majority of them have received already.

‪“Those that have not received theirs fall within batches four and five, so they must exercise patience because they will be verified; once they are certified, they will be paid,’’ he said.

‪Dasar said that it was unfortunate that government did not pay the N1, 450 per bird initially agreed.

‪He said that some farmers were paid N750 per bird, while others received N650 per bird.

‪The chairman said the variation in the payment might not be unconnected with the fact that some of the birds were either not matured or had produced eggs for more than a year.

‪He criticized protest of some farmers over non-payment of compensations at the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Abuja.

‪He dissociated the state chapter from the act, describing it as gross misconduct and lack of trust for constituted authorities.

‪Dasar said the ongoing compensations were not a product of the protest but the frantic effort of PAN.

‪“No doubt, the delay in payment of compensations has devastated our farmers because it is a main source of livelihood for most of us.

‪“It is my belief that where ever there are leaders, people should learn to have confidence and trust them to handle some task on their behalf.

‪“Part of the delay in the payment was because of government insistence on verification before payment of compensation.

‪“This is so because a lot of farmers want to cash in on the opportunity to enrich themselves,’’ he said.