Adeniyi Olugbemi, Sokoto
Business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote’s
plan to establish a sugar plantation and a factory in Kebbi State may
have hit the rock, as indigenous land owners, who are mostly farmers,
have refused to release their farm land.
Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu said this
at an interactive session with intellectuals of Kebbi State origin
working at Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. The session was held at
the university’s auditorium. Also in attendance were members of the
Kebbi State Students’ Union, UDUS chapter.
Governor Bagudu said that even at the
offer of compensation, the farmers tenaciously held on to their land,
saying that Dangote’s investment will not serve their interest.
He said, “Dangote Industries’
application for 54,000 hectares of land to establish a sugar factory
pre-dated my administration, but they could only identify about 24,000
hectares suitable for sugar cane cultivation.
“When we came on board, there was
pressure on us because all of those 24,000 hectares belong to farmers.
And the proposal we met on ground was that those farmers would be paid
compensation of about a hundred thousand naira per hectare.”
He said further, “As a government, the
whole cabinet looked at the proposal. Our concern is, you are going to
pay a farmer hectare of land where he produces his crops. You will be
making an income of 700,000 a year where he has been making 100,000 and
make him a labourer forever. How as a social policy can you justify this
opportunity cost?
“What is the net contribution in output
that this investment is going to bring, for instance, if you are
replacing your current production of rice by the production of sugar
cane?
“Let there be no mistakes about it, we
welcome investors and we thank Dangote Industries for identifying Kebbi
as one of those states he wants to invest in. But above all, the most
important thing is the need to ensure that investments serve and benefit
our people.
“We hope to convince Dangote that there
are other ways this can be done to have better security for his
investment, like agreeing that our farmers become his out-growers and he
buys from them for production in his factory.”
On adding value to rice and wheat
production, which the state is noted for, Governor Bagudu explained that
his administration built two models whereby a farmer, given sufficient
inputs without subsidy, would inevitably achieve better outcome than a
farmer receiving subsidy but insufficient inputs.
“When we tested this by interacting with
farmers, we were surprised by their acceptance of adequate inputs
without subsidy versus subsidy without adequate inputs,” he said.
He identified lack of human resources,
inadequate infrastructure and apathy to developmental values on the part
of youths as problems of education in the state.
Bagudu also used the occasion to outline remarkable achievements his administration had recorded since assumption of office.
The event with over 40 Kebbi State
indigenously ranked professors and others in attendance was chaired by
Prof. Abdullahi Abdu Zuru, Vice-Chancellor, Usman Danfodiyo University,
Sokoto, also an indigene of Kebbi State.
Copyright PUNCH.
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