Lawmakers Grill Minister as 2,000 Machines Sit Idle Seven Months After Tinubu’s Grand Launch

Seven months after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu promised an “agricultural renaissance” for Nigeria, 2,000 high-tech tractors meant to revolutionize the nation’s farms are reportedly gathering dust, sparking a heated confrontation at the National Assembly.

During a 2026 budget defense session on Tuesday, members of the Joint Senate and House Committees on Agriculture demanded to know why the equipment unveiled with massive fanfare in June 2025 has yet to reach a single Nigerian farm. The Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, found himself in the hot seat as lawmakers labeled the delay “inexcusable” amid rising food prices and a desperate need for mechanization.

“We saw the launch, we saw the photos, but we haven’t seen the tractors in our constituencies,” fumed one lawmaker. “Our farmers are still using hoes and cutlasses while millions of dollars in equipment sit in parking lots.”

Defending the Ministry, Senator Abdullahi explained that the delay stems from a new “accountability framework” designed to prevent the tractors from being hijacked by politicians. He revealed that the Bank of Agriculture (BoA) is currently thinning down a massive pool of 110,000 applicants to find 2,000 legitimate service providers capable of maintaining the machinery.

However, the “service-provider model” has come under fire. To get a tractor, applicants must provide a 25% down payment and pay 15% interest terms that many small-scale farmers say are out of reach.

The 2,000 tractors, imported from Belarus, were intended to cultivate over 550,000 hectares of land and create thousands of jobs. With the 2026 planting season fast approaching, the Senate has warned the Ministry that “bureaucratic screening” cannot be an excuse for another year of low productivity.

As the hearing concluded, the Joint Committee issued a stern directive: the tractors must be on the move by the end of February, or the Ministry faces a significant “re-prioritization” of its 2026 capital budget. For Nigeria’s hungry population, the message from the hallowed chambers was clear: the time for ceremonies is over; it’s time to plow.