Is President Olusegun Obasanjo's proposed National Dialogue the way forward for Nigeria?
'How Agriculture 'll Kick-start Ekiti Devt'
By Sherrif Balogun, 12.12.2004
One state whose governor has consistently hit the headlines in the media is Ekiti. Since the emergence of Mr. Ayo Fayose as the governor of this Southwest state over a year ago, his administration has continued to battle opposition against some of his administration’s policies. Opposition in the state, which is basically from the Alliance for Democracy(AD), which was defeated by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the April, 2003 gubernatorial election and a few elites has also consistently faulted every policy initiated by the state government. In spite of this, his administration has not hidden its intention to diversify the economy of the state. The state, which prides itself as the fountain of knowledge, because of the fact that it has a large number of educated indigenes, has now chosen Agriculture as one of the means of launching itself into economic prosperity and may soon be competing with other states that are known as the food baskets of the nation. Already, the state government has not only made hundreds of millions of naira available for this diversification, it has also gone into partnership with the private sector. The starting point will be the establishment of farm centres in all the councils in the state, while livestock farming, with a special focus on poultry, is the fulcrum on which the anticipated agricultural revolution is hinged. But this move, like all others, is not without opposition from some sections of the state. The Chief Executive Officer of Avians Specialities, Gbenga James, is the man saddled with the responsibility of ensuring this anticipated agricultural revolution and he has commenced the project tagged Biological Concets. While speaking on the project, how its objectives will be achieved, the expected benefits, and the place of agriculture in national development, among other issues, he maintained that the opposition against the project is not from ordinary Ekiti people, but from a few elites who are blinded by political and parochial factors and could not see the good intentions behind the project. Commenting further on the project, James said every local government headquarters has a farm settlement to be built with its funds. He also said that there are 20 farm centres out of which 16 belong to local governments while the state government has four centres. According to him, every farm also has six houses. To him, agriculture is more than mere tilling of land and rearing of animals. It is a process that encompasses a chain of activities. Buttressing his position, he said that the project has both forward and backward linkages, which will work together to impact positively on the economy of the state and the lives of the people. He said about 8,000 metric tones of maize would be needed to feed the chickens that would be reared. And that would require the cultivation of about 16,000 hectares of land while about 8,000 people would be put on job in the process.. Even though, he is a childhood friend of the governor, the partnership between the state government and his company was not achieved on a platter of friendship. James, whose Avians Specialities has 16 mega farms, with the largest breeding centre in West Africa and the largest hatchery in the country with the capacity to handle two million eggs per month, said that members of the Ekiti state executive council visited his farm for an on the spot assessment of his capacity to nurture the state's agricultural policies to maturity and were convinced by what they saw on ground. Justifying his choice as the partner of the government for the project, he said "from day one that I left university, I have been into poultry. I have about 18 years experience in poultry. I travel all over the world, atleast, six times a year in respect of poultry related seminars and workshops". How did the project come to being? James said that when Fayose signified his intentions to go into politics and contest the gubernatorial election, his friends asked him what he would do to impact on the lives of the people of the state positively. According to him, it was at that time that the governor resolved to kick-start the state economy using agriculture as a spring board. James said his aspiration is to get a national award on completion of the project. "We have done about 80% of the work. We have a target and we are moving at our pace. By February/March ending, construction work would have been concluded", he said.. He also commented on the series of controversy which have been trailing the actions of the governor. According to him, Fayose has been having problem because of his determination to ensure positive change in Ekiti. "Let me tell you why he is having problems in the state. It is because he wants to effect positive changes in the state. And he wants to do that in a different way. He is not doing things the way people are used to, and because of that, some people who could not come to terms with that are mounting opposition against him. You know if people say this is the way we do things and you say you can do it in a different way and still achieve better results, they will want to resist you. That is what is happening in Ekiti", he said. He added that the governor was a multi-billionaire before he came into government and that he believes his entry into politics was motivated by his intentions to impact positively on the lives of the people of the state.
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