Niger Foods Company Limited has petitioned the Niger State Police Command to investigate whether the inputs allotted to Shinkafa Cluster were used for their intended purpose, adding that only the sum of N25 million, representing just 0.74% of the total N3.4 billion, has been recovered from the Shinkafa Cluster.

The company’s Chairman, Mr Sammy Adigun, in a statement issued in Minna, said the Shinkafa Cluster, under the leadership of Mallam Idris Usman Makanta (popularly known as Shinkafan Nupe), benefited from the program during both the 2024 wet and dry seasons.

He further debunked claims suggesting that the ongoing investigation involving the Shinkafa Cluster is politically motivated, describing such allegations as false, misleading, and deliberately intended to distract the public from the real issues.

He clarified that the matter originates from a breach of agreement under the Niger Foods Input Financing Program, a scheme designed to support genuine smallholder farmers across Niger State through transparent and bank-verified input financing.

According to the company, the program operates on a cooperative-based model where farmer clusters or cooperatives are solely guaranteed by their executives or cluster heads, not by the government or politicians.

Niger Foods said all farms were mapped, coordinates recorded, and three critical documents were duly signed by Makanta: a Farming Framework Agreement, a Global Standing Instruction (GSI), and a Letter of Guarantee in which he personally undertook to ensure 100% recovery in case of default.

The statement read in part: “We have petitioned the Niger State Police Command to investigate whether the inputs were used for their intended purpose, because the guarantor was contractually responsible for ensuring compliance.

Adigun, however, disclosed that the company is committed to supporting smallholder farmers and maintaining accountability within the agricultural sector through its input financing programs.