The Upper East Regional Minister Ms Tangoba Abayage has further emboldened her name in the good books of the President for her role in the seizure of several thousands of smuggled bags of fertilizer meant for Ghanaian farmers under government’s Planting for Food and Jobs program.

Earlier in June, two articulated trucks, each loaded with 2,000 bags of PFJ branded 25 Kilograms of NPK fertilizers were impounded at the Paga border while attempting to cross to neighbouring Burkina Faso.

Also, two Burkina Faso nationals were arrested in Bolga-Soe, a suburb of the Bolgatanga Municipality on July 28, 2019 for hoarding over 1000 bags of PFJ branded fertilizer suspected to be headed to Burkina Faso.

In a separate incident, a woman was also arrested in June in connection with over 1000 bags of fertilizers that had the Planting for Good and Jobs stickers deliberately peeled off.

President Nana Akufo Addo in an address in Navrongo on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 commended the Upper East Regional Minister for her role in ensuring the seizure of the fertilizers.

He confirmed seeing seized trucks at the residency and the police station in Navrongo that are loaded with the PFJ branded fertilizer.

“I’ve seen the ones that have been seized by this very active woman at the residency [I’ve seen the lorries that are there]. I’ve seen them at the police station here in Navrongo. It is not right,” he remarked.

The President further charged the people of the Upper East region to be vigilant and expose government and security officials who engage or aide in the smuggling of subsidized fertilizer to neighbouring countries adding that “It is all of us our money which is inside the program.

It is not just the farmers. People sitting in the offices in Accra and Navrongo are all contributing then we have a handful of greedy criminals and they would use our money and smuggle our things to Burkina Faso. Am appealing to all of you, the traditional rulers and the entire population to bind together to stop this smuggling of our fertilizers to Burkina Faso”.