Adebola Shabi, President of Epe Club, has asked local government chairmen to take action by giving farming space, supplying fertiliser to local farmers, and promoting mechanised farming techniques.
Shabi proposed a joint agricultural effort to ease the country’s food shortfall. He criticised the “mismanagement” of land resources that were originally intended for agricultural use but have since been given to estates.
He addressed the Annual General Meeting (AGM) and the induction of new members into the club.
He also advocated for a return to traditional agricultural practices, emphasising the importance of farming products such as cocoa and rubber.
Shabi underlined that investing in agriculture would allow them to achieve food self-sufficiency and offset the country’s rising food prices.
According to him, the Lagos state government is establishing an agro-processing plant to address food rotting on the land and aid agricultural development. Hakeem Oluwo, Epe Club’s General Secretary, remarked about the area’s progress.“If you compare what you saw in this town a few years ago to what we have now, you will notice a significant difference.
Any community that can galvanise its indigenes will make progress because some of them may be in positions of responsibility where they can influence things for the town, and one of the Epe Club’s missions is to improve Epe,” he said.
Oluwo stated that attempts are being made to ameliorate the situation on Epe land and to provide a relaxing environment for them after retirement.”All of us will retire and return home, and if there isn’t a place like this, most of us are accustomed to relaxation in Lagos. “If we didn’t have this place, we’d just be sleeping and not being able to socialise,” he explained.
What they’re saying
Shabi stated: “We need to improve our agriculture. Allow our people to return to farming; this will bring food prices down.
Lagos State received a lot of land from people for agricultural purposes. Later, they began selling to people in order to establish estates; however, we do not need estates in this area; instead, we require agriculture. Our people, Nigerians, are starving; let us return to the way Obafemi Awolowo and others did”
“We should begin with the localities; local government chairmen should wake up; it is not about establishing markets, and what will you sell in the market? Why can’t you provide your people with land to begin farming and selling their produce? You will notice that grocery prices will decrease. We’re bringing in food from the north; if the northerners decide not to bring in food again, we’ll go hungry; what will we eat? Will we be eating estates?, he inquired.
“One of the inductees, Commissioner for Energy in Lagos State, Biodun Ogunleye, spoke about his fulfilment in being able to contribute to the development of Epe land, as well as the state’s strategies for having renewable resource”
Bottom Line
This emphasizes the country’s food shortage and calls for increased agricultural production to achieve self-sufficiency and also criticizes the allocation of land meant for agriculture to estates, reducing potential farmlands.
