Leveraging On Agricultural Potential Of Epe For Growth And Development – Oloja Of Epeland

The Oloja of Epeland, HRM Oba Kamorudeen Ishola Animashaun has harped on the agricultural potentials of Epe and the need for the youths to get involved.

In an interview with Epe news, the first class monarch expressed delight at the level of involvement of youths in agriculture.

He added that the town is also looking at drawing local and foreign investors to exlore it agricultural potentials.

The monarch also touched on other important and topical issues that are sacrosanct to the development of the Epe town

Below is the excerpt of the full interview

Epe town is popularly known for its agricultural activities most particularly fishing, what are your efforts in trying to get the youths of Epe involved in the agricultural activities?

Thank you very much. Our major businesses in Epe are farming and fishing. We’re trying our best to involve the youths. Some of them have been incorporated into fishing, some into agro-allied business, some are into agro-economics and the likes. We try to encourage investors so as to introduce modern fishing to our community to further involve the youth the more. Take a look at the Lagos state Agric Institute in Araga here, many of our youths are there farming and engaging a whole lots of agricultural activities not limited to aqua-culture, snailery, cash/food crop farming and others. Our major challenge now is land. Most of lands have been taken over by the likes of Dangote Groups, Free Trade Zone, Estates etc. We also thank the Lagos state government on the development of the Alaro City to enable our youths get employed, and empowering them in various skills.

Dangote refinery even has different options for our youths to get them employed in mechanical engineering, wielding, carpentry, plumbing and a host of others. About 8,000 of them would be considered for these jobs. We are still planning to acquire more lands for agriculture and most of our investors are supposed to have been here if not for the covid19 outbreak which stopped a lot of activities. We’re working on it and the state government is working on it as well. Governor sanwo olu and his team are proactive in this aspect. They are promoting agricultural activities throughout the state.

What has been your effort in the area of empowerment?

Well, in the area of empowerment, I will plead with the federal government to assist us.
Recently, we allowed some micro finance banks to be operating in Epe and we are still planing to have a community bank to assist our men and women in trading and soft loans to boost the petty trades.
We’re also pleading with other philanthropists to also come to our aid as well.

Also Read: No Ojude Oba Festival This Year, Says Olu-Epe Of Epe

Every community is known to have their own festival(s), what are the festivals we have here in Epe?

We all know that we have different festivals here in Epe. We have the popular Oko-shi, the traditional Kilajolu, and the Ebi festivals. Even with the pandemic, we made sure that some of our festivals were not affected.

What are your plans towards this year’s Ojude Oba festival?

The community’s plan is to make sure that we follow the government directives.. There would be no Ojude Oba for this year, everyone can celebrate with their families in their homes and at the same time pray in their various homes this year as we must strictly adhere to the directives..
So I appeal to all my people to follow this rules. No Ojude Oba this year, no going to the praying ground this year.

On the issue of epileptic power supply we currently have in Epe, what has been your efforts to see this ameliorated?

Thank you very much. Talk of electricity, Epe is far behind and its a big problem. When there’s no electricity, the welders, traders and all local manufacturers/business owners would really be affected. What we did was to give part of our land to IPPC/ Omotosho stepdown to Epe here which I know that the work is in progress and we are appealing to the Ikeja Electric to improve more so that we don’t continue to have this epileptic supply and we want state and federal governments to also come to our aid.

As a royal father, how can you describe the obaship position?

People see it as a luxurious position, but to me, it isn’t. As I’m here now, the whole community is looking up to me. I have to maintain peace and order in the community. This is a great task. With God on my side, we are achieving this gradually. I operate up to the riverine despite that they have heads. Being the Paramount Ruler, I supervise all the nooks and crannies of my domain. It’s not really an easy task. Oba’s throne is not the one one would just come from nowhere to claim. It’s always according to the traditions. We also seek the support of the gods.

As a father, what advice do you have for the youths on self development?

I’ll advise that they shouldn’t wait until they work at the Local Government offices, Banks etc or before they can sustain their livings.
The youths need to build themselves and learn different trades to fit into the society. They need to be self reliant. As students, they can be engaging in vocations which won’t disturb their studies. Government cannot do everything for us. So my advice to them is for them to learn different trades and put to practice whatever they learn so as to be self reliant after schooling. Also, parents should also assist by encouraging their children to learn a trade.

What have been your effort in repairing the major and trunk roads in Epe and its environs?

Our people needs serious orientation on sanitation and I will also want the state government to come to further assist in this regards. We have also been going from places to places like market places to educate them on the effects of dumping refuse in the gutters and roads . But we still need more sweepers, trucks for moving the refuse and we’ve been trying to put all of these in place..

Lagos state government is trying its best as we all know how big Lagos is. Good enough , the lekki-Epe road has been awarded, if not for the pandemic and the recent heavy rainfalls, I’m sure they would have gone far on the job, and we thank the state government for that.

How can you rate the performance of the Lagos state government under the administration of gov. Sanwo Olu?

The government of Babajide Sanwo Olu and his team has been very wonderful, I must commend. They are really working most especially during this period of the pandemic and they’re still putting more efforts to make sure that Lagos state grows for the better.
Talking about the proposed tourist centre, its a very great idea as it will serve as another point of revenue for the state. We know how people cherish tourist centres. Most of us pay heavily to visit those places abroad. We now have them here at home. It’s laudable indeed. I pray Allah to continue His Mercies and blessings on them.