By Abdallah el-Kurebe
“Kogi is the next big thing to happen in agriculture” – Governor Yahaya Bello
Ranked 20th most populated in Nigeria with 3,278,487 (National Population Commission 2006), pre-2015 Kogi state was rated among the most poorest in Nigeria until Yahaya Bello became governor when he wrestled it, first, out of the list of 10 poorest; and in the recent data by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, out of the 20 poorest. This has been achieved by the governor when more economically-advantaged states like Kano, Kaduna and the FCT fell among the latest data.
Kogi has four major economic potentials which include agriculture, mining, industry and tourism. A report by the Federal Ministry of Mines and Power states that in the area of mining, the state alone has 29 of Nigeria’s 37 mineral deposits in commercial quantities. These include coal, dolomite, feldspar, bauxite, iron ore, tar, limestone, gold, tantalite etc. According to the report, “…Kogi state alone has enough deposits of coal to supply all of Nigeria with electricity for 400 years. And enough limestone to keep three giant-sized cement factories (with over 15m tons annual capacity) operational for an unbroken stretch of 99 years.”
However, Governor Bello’s priority choice among the four major potentials, was the exploration of agriculture in tune with President Muhammadu Buhari’s economic diversification efforts from oil to agriculture. It is also because agriculture is practised by the larger population in the state; and to ensure food security, agriculture, according to him, is a sure bet. In recognition of this and with full understanding of the sector’s potentials in the state, Bello, on assumption of office, began by launching the Agricultural Revolution Programme (ARP). His vision was to upgrade agricultural practice from subsistence to commercial agriculture.
According to the governor, “Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy and the oil well of Kogi state. Making agriculture a business concern and not just farming for farming sake is one of the most important priorities of my government. The policy thrust of the administration on agriculture is to produce food and ensure food security for the people of the state, its neighbouring states and Nigeria at large.”
Buttressing governor Yahaya Bellos’s point of view at the First Annual GYB Seminar for Nigeria’s Political and Crime Correspondents, organised by Kogi state government in Abuja, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr David Apeh in a paper titled, “Achieving Food Security In Spite Of Global Economic Downturn, The Kogi State Story,” stated that countries, states and households that are faced with various crises, are left with the option of finding ways of coping with food security. “The food crisis has propelled agricultural and food security, especially renewed commitment to the programme and policies that will involve all stakeholders in food production chain.”
These positions are predicated on the fact that Nigeria, which food security had been threatened by natural disasters like drought, flood, population growth and later climate change, now has added crises including farmers/herdsmen’s and communal clashes; and other forms of insecurity like Boko Haram/ISWAP insurgency and banditry to contend with. Food insecurity therefore can hardly be avoided if concerted efforts, in all ramifications, are not made to avert the situation.
To begin with, governor Yahaya Bello identified the youths and women as tools to help in fighting the scourge of food insecurity. Targeting these groups was strategic because, first, agriculture has continued to be preoccupied mostly by the aged, whose productivity strength is weakened. Secondly, traditional method of farming had made agriculture less attractive, especially to the youth. On the other hand, the governor realised that women were strategic tools in the development of agriculture, especially because they provide considerable amount of labour in the sector. His motivation of the youth and women therefore, has been unequalled to any governor that was there before him.
Yahaya Bello created the Omi Dam Agricultural Project and the Osara Green House to attract the youth and more of the women to agriculture with a view to embracing more rewarding trade of farming. “We are creating a new circle of millionaires in the youths and women. Our administration has deliberately focused on agriculture to provide food, jobs and security. As a young man, I know the limitless potentials in the youth and women. When they have the opportunities to deploy their energies to positive ventures, they are unstoppable.”
Mr Apeh in his paper stated that the governor also created Alape Staple Crops Processing Zone and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, “to establish a bio-fuel factory and sugarcane plantation at the Alape Staple Crops Processing Zone. The government released money for the survey of 20,000 jobs for the teeming youths in the state.”
A young female farmer in Kogi applying fertilisers on her farm
In an exclusive interview on the side-lines of the First GYB Seminar, the commissioner said, “Governor Yahaya Bello has taken deliberate steps to woo more youths and women to agriculture. For the youths, we have succeeded in recording more yields in all crops being grown in the state. Youth participation in agriculture is gradually placing Kogi state on the pedestal of the agricultural map of the country.”
Like journalism which has been enhanced with the advent of New Media, the future of food and agriculture is reliant on new technologies. Conscious of this reality, Mr Apeh confirmed in the interview that governor Bello has activated mechanisms to ensure the application of modern agricultural technologies to further boost food productivity. “The state government is in tune with new technologies in agriculture. This is intended to make farming activities easy in order to further attract the people of the state to the sector. The technologies, in addition to mechanisation, will attract all and sundry, and the aged farmers will also find it easy to produce more food for commercial purposes and beyond subsistence. Generally, yields will be increased because high yield seeds varieties, especially of cashew, rice, cassava, palm oil, maize, beni seed, cowpea, yam, will be used to boost agriculture and ultimately achieve food security. Our researchers have been encouraged to develop high yield varieties of seeds for this purpose.”
GYB has attracted global and local big names, both for financing and other collaborative efforts, to develop agriculture and other aspects of social life. For example, because of the imperative of finance for sustainable agriculture, Kogi state government is collaborating with the World Bank to fund Agro Processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Support (APPEALS) project to empower youth and women in rice, cassava and cashew production. Additionally, the state government accessed “The World Bank loan for Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project, RAAMP, which will be jointly funded by the World Bank, French Development Agency and the government of Nigeria, will upgrade over 500 kilometres of rural roads, improve agro-logistics centres as well as enhance connectivity and access to local markets and agribusiness services in the state,” Apeh said. Indeed, the World Bank, during an inspection tour of Kogi Agricultural Initiative fish ponds at Geregu village in Ajaokuta local government area in June, commended GYB’s administration for introducing sustainable agricultural programme in the state.
Again, while the African Development Bank, AfDB, granted Kogi a $100 million loan for the establishment of Agro-Industrial Processing Zones on a total of 280 hectares, which governor Bello said “…will create employment for two million people in the state and by extension, curb poverty, reduce youth restiveness and open doors for private investors,” the International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, has been invited with its Assisted Value Chain Development Programme, to create “agricultural initiative aimed at reducing rural poverty, enhancing food security among the poor households and promoting economic growth on a sustainable basis.”
The programme, which is essentially on the production, processing and marketing of rice and cassava in targeted local government areas in Kogi, “is made up of three basic components which are: Agricultural Market development, to support value addition, market linkages and support to market infrastructure and to build a very strong agribusiness and value chain orientation to farmers in rural communities.”
GYB inaugurating agricultural equipment (tillers) for farmers in Kogi
GYB has also become the cynosure of the ‘almighty’ Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to collaborate and fund the Accelerated Agricultural Development Scheme, AADS, project to empower youth and women in the development of aquaculture and cassava production and processing. This is in addition to the apex bank’s Anchor Borrower Programme, ABP, which has facilitated the empowerment of 14,955 farmers.
In promoting direct foreign investment, DFI, GYB’s aggressive pursuits in agricultural development has attracted the Dutch African Agricultural Projects from Netherlands to invest ($400 million (N144 billion) in various Agro-allied products, including dairy ranch programme, milk production, onions, sesame seed, rice, etc. The project coordinator, Bert DeJong said when the team met with the governor, that “the project has the capacity to create 12,000 direct jobs for the people of Kogi State and another 25,000 to 30,000 indirect employment for the citizens.”
Indeed, Governor Yahaya Bello is working hard to place Kogi on the pedestal of Nigeria’s agricultural giants.
He adds that “the average Nigerian youth, though well equipped with the skills and technical knowhow to make a difference in governance architecture, is still faced with poverty, displacement, barriers to education, multiple forms of discrimination and limited employment prospects and opportunities.” Since these socio-economic opportunities are denied them, the situation readily makes our youths to take to crimes in order to make ends meet.
“Beyond the socio-economic problems that these challenges portend, the perception of alienation and marginalization of youth has led to problems of insurgency, banditry and insecurity in certain regions of the country,” Jamiu posited.
Therefore, GYB’s inclusion of the youth in governance is aimed at effectively implementation security and social development intervention in the state, which in turn, has turned them away from the thoughts of criminality. “Our youth have been deeply involved in community development initiatives across their localities. These areas of intervention cover projects involving micro infrastructure, community mobilizing for positive action, small and medium enterprises, agriculture, community policing and youth led community based organizations.”
True to it, Governor Bello’s youth driven administration has succeeded in providing adequate security in the state by enhancing the quality of the lives of the citizens through his unrelenting fight against insecurity, thereby reducing crime rate in the state to its barest minimum.
The peace and security now found in Kogi state, is the “confluence point” of GYB’s promotion of agricultural development and his inclusion of the youth in governance.
