Food is the most basic of human needs, hence food security is the most important of all ‘security’. Any country that cannot feed her people gets no respect in the committee of nations. In the same vein, any state of a federation that is dependent on other states for food will also be dependent on the economies of those states. Oyo State must be able to adequately grow the food to feed her populace and sell the excess to other states. In fact, agriculture is supposed to be a top IGR earner and economy booster for our state.
In the South West of Nigeria, a contiguous area of good climate, arable land and viable markets, Oyo State is distinguished in having the largest land mass ahead of the remaining five states. In fact, Oyo State has a comparative advantage in land for agriculture such that we should not only be able to feed ourselves but to feed other states of the South West, if not other states of the nation.
Similarly, Oyo State has the widest and deepest pool of institutions of agricultural technology readily available more than any other state in the Nigerian federation. Oyo State is the fortunate host of Cocoa Research Institute, CRIN; Forestry Research Institute, FRIN; National Institute of Horticulture, NIHORT; International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA; Institute of Agricultural Research & Technology, IAR&T; et cetera, et cetera
Snippets of sound bites from Gov Seyi Makinde, even before he was inaugurated hinted at the fact that agriculture will be a major focus of his administration. Right after a trip to Pennsylvania, the then governor-elect surfaced in Botswana! And the public was regaled with reports that plans have been finalized for Oyo State to be exporting maize to Botswana! But, three long years down the line, not a single cob of maize has been exported to Botswana. Worse still, no farm estates to generate the maize outputs from, despite a nine (9) billion naira loan purportedly incurred and disbursed for that purpose. Only vague assurances about a Fasola and Eruwa farm estates being in view and a jamboree, an excursion of Oyo State youths to Nasarawa!
A big production and media hype was made out of it! Oyo State youths are being trained to kickstart an agricultural revolution, they said! Oyo State IGR will be double in a space of six months, they said. Batches after batches after batches of Oyo State youths jumped on the jamboree to Nasarawa, allegedly at the cost of N300,000 per person, apart from the N10,000 data money they were given to hype the half-baked initiative. Over a billion of Oyo State commonwealth down another drain and three years after the inauguration day empty promises, only 98 out of 4050 of those youths were claimed by the governor to have started any form of agricultural production. A paltry 0.02% success rate!
One wonders why Oyo State youths had to brave the dangers of the road and run the risk of bandits and kidnappers, at the cost of over a billion naira, to go all the way to Nasarawa to learn how to farm with CRIN, FRIN, NIHORT, IITA and IAR&T, not to mention Federal College of Agriculture, Moor Plantation, Apata, Ibadan and College of Agriculture, Igbo-Ora right at their doorsteps! Could there be some hanky panky buried in the details?
In summary, three years down the line, no maize export to Botswana, no special contributions of agriculture to the state’s Internally Generated Revenue. On the other hand, the focus has shifted from the teeming population of educated but unemployed Oyo State youths that could have been gainfully employed in agriculture, to a privileged, mostly uneducated few supposedly in transport, but actually henchmen of a political enforcer, who periodically unleash terror on the populace and opposition politicians, whenever they are needed to influence or truncate democratic processes.
With the establishment of the Park Management System and the sinking of huge sums into the building of bus terminals, it seems the present government is more interested in employing more semi-ilitrate touts and garage boys in transport business, than in employing the teeming educated youths of Oyo State in agricultural business, while a massive debt burden, 180 billion and counting, is being incurred on their behalf, to carry into their future.
However, Oyo State economy cannot survive another four years of this executive wastefulness. The concerned people of Oyo State have decided that enough is enough, it is time to rescue the state’s economy from the precipice it is being pushed to by a governor who has zero experience in public administration and is too arrogant to learn from those he met on the field. Oyo State economy is in dire need of rescue. Sen Teslim Kolawole Folarin has volunteered himself to lead this Rescue Mission and he is a team player who will tap the depths of political and administrative experience of those around him.
TKF Media Resource Center
June 13, 2022
