THE Owa of Idanre in Ondo State, Oba Fredrick Aroloye, has told the government that its plan to displace 10,000 farmers from forest reserve in the community would boomerang without proper consultations.
Cocoa farmers at Ofosu forest reserve last week blocked the Ore-Benin highway to protest the alleged sales of their farmland to a foreign company by the government.
Oba Aroloye spoke through his lawyer, Olugbenga Samuel, at meeting with Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu. He said the investors didn’t meet with the farmers before bringing in tractors to destroy their farmlands.
The monarch also alleged that civil servants from the forestry department stormed farming camps with military vehicles to intimidate the people
He said: “The people’s interest should be accommodated. Where are we throwing to? How do you want to accommodate them? That is what the farmers are saying. The community is saying we want to see the policy clearly. Come and explain it to us. If we are going to buy into it, we buy into it.
“We are not against growth. When Idanre submitted the forest in 1932, there was a running covenant that government will be carving out enclave for people to farm. These are laudable projects, but when such issues come, there is bound to be resistance. Let the community be carried along. Allow the people buy into the policy. Let the farmers know how to protect their interest. No amount of force can stop a people when their interests are not carried along.”
Governor Akeredolu, who was represented by Commander of the Ondo Amotekun Corps, Chief Adetunji Adeleye, said his administration was keying into the initiative sponsored by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Government to grow cocoa, cashew and oil palm in large scale.
Akeredolu said the land was given to the investors to boost and reposition the state’s economy. He stated that the farmers would be integrated into the investors’ scheme to boost productivity and achieve the state’s food security goals.
The governor also explained that the state owns all forest reserves, formulates and implements policies, and manages forestry activities, hence the occupants are encroachers, but it would be considerate in its decision, bearing in mind the people’s interest.
He added: “Do you possess what is not your own? Forestry reserve is a reserve of government, so if government wants to use it, it can. What they are doing is community participation. As stakeholders, we carry them along in pursuing the objectives of the government. So, the issue of giving out what is not your own does not arise at all. The investors are supposed to cultivate half of the forestry reserve.
“Some investors are coming in and we want the cooperation of the farmers and everybody inside the forest reserve, we need their support with the innovations these investors are bringing.”