S’West Govts Plan to Intensity Farm Security

Eko Hot Blog reports that South-West Governors have agreed to enhance farm security by creating specialized units within the Amotekun corps.

This resolution was part of the discussions at the roundtable on food security hosted on Wednesday by the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria Commission in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

Present at the meeting were the five Commissioners for Agriculture from Ekiti, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, and Oyo states: Ebenezer Boluwade, Bolu Owotomo, Olayato Aribo, Babatola Faseru, and Olasunkanmi Olaleye respectively. Mr. Emmanuel Audu, the permanent secretary of the Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture, represented Lagos State’s commissioner.

In his opening remarks, the Director General of the commission, Seye Oyeleye, said, “It is important to dispel unfounded rumours that the region has lost its capacity to produce its food.”

Other plans included “revitalising moribund dams for irrigation, improving mechanisation across the value chain, adopting a cluster farming model, expanding input distribution, and establishing an electronic agriculture database.”

Other participants at the meeting included Dr. Theophilus Onadeko, the recently appointed Managing Director of the South-West Agriculture Company (SWAgCo), a subsidiary of the Odu’a Investment Company Limited, and Chief Kola Akosile from NACCIMA.

The South-West Governors’ Forum recently met in Lagos, committing to massive industrialisation and agricultural revival in the region. At the meeting, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu was elected the new chairman of the forum, replacing the late ex-Ondo State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu.

The six governors reiterated their call for the establishment of state police to address the worrying insecurity in the country.

The governors commended the House of Representatives and the South-West Caucus for their efforts in passing the South-West Development Commission Bill, expressing hope for its speedy passage by the Senate.

“The meeting commends President Bola Tinubu on the groundbreaking of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road, the proposed Lagos to Sokoto road and encourages the Federal Government to rehabilitate other Federal roads in the region,” their communique read.