Sam Egburonu, Associate Editor, reports that 52 years after independence, agriculture, which used to serve as the country’s economic mainstay, has been taken to the background at dire consequences for the country and the people.
On September 30, 1960, few hours before Nigeria’s independence, the Kofat Muazugal Quarters in Kano had a unique appeal not only for Nigerians who held it in high esteem but also for the visiting international community, eager to behold one of the wonders of the world. Housing what was described as the biggest and artistically displayed groundnut pyramids ever seen on planet earth,Nigerians and visitors to the country acknowledged it then as one of the concrete symbols of the country’s economic success.
Pa Udensi Onyekwere, a retired civil servant now in Umuahia, Abia State capital, who was in Kano in the early 1960s, told The Nation that “each of the pyramids, made up of about 15,000 tons of groundnut bags, not only engaged thousands of workers and businessmen, but also attracted foreign businessmen and tourists eager to take photographs, thus transforming the quarters to one of the busiest commercial areas in West Africa.”
The retiree recalled that the Northern Nigerian Government, under Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, the Sarduana of Sokoto, was very passionate about the development of the groundnut trade. So, all through his government, the trade boomed and the pyramids only became bigger and better.
Today, Sunday, September 30, 2012, exactly 52 years after independence, those groundnut pyramids and the multi million pounds they brought to the country’s coffers, are no more. In their place are buildings and empty fields sometimes used for recreational purposes.
So, as Nigeria celebrates its independence anniversary tomorrow, October 1, it may be difficult to see any foreign guest curious enough or anxious enough to visit the area and to take lifetime photographs as was the case in the 1960s.
Even residents of Kano, especially youths and middle aged men born from 1970s, are not likely to take any special notice as they make use of the empty fields as football training grounds this independence anniversary vacation.
The stories of palm trade in Eastern Nigeria, cocoa in Western Nigeria and that of other agricultural products across the country, are not less pathetic.
Okpara’s farm settlements in eastern Nigeria:
Dr. Michael Okpara, the late Premier of Eastern Nigeria, was considered by his admirers and hard-nosed economists as a master strategist, who had a tall dream of building Africa’s strongest economy. He had ample faith in the country’s natural endowments and reasoned that the country will easily lead the rest of Africa and beyond if the leaders chose to do the right thing.
He captured this vision when he said, “Nigeria has a bright future if its leaders will observe certain basic tenets. If the leaders of this vast and rich country will be fair minded and ensure that no part of it is neglected, then the country will be moving forward to a very prosperous future. Nigeria is one of the few African countries that can look after themselves because of its natural wealth, especially oil.”
Though he believed that availability of natural resources, especially oil, was a major advantage for Nigeria’s economic development, he set out to build an economy that was not necessarily dependent on liquid gold.
Even as the world was highly excited with discovery of oil in the country and the region, Okpara, in 1962, launched an agricultural revolution, a move that made some observers to describe the zone then as “Japan of Africa.”
Under the project, the Government of Eastern Nigeria worked closely with local farmers and multipurpose cooperative societies. It also established cooperative community farms and Cooperative Farm Settlements and ensured that they functioned optimally.
Recalling the benefits of that policy, Pa Onyekwere said, “During Dr. Okpara’s period, the government of the region incorporated ordinary farmers in its agrarian revolution schemes; it organised cooperatives and with that unique effort, recorded unprecedented production of food and cash crops. Then, all the cities within the region and our immediate neighbours enjoyed abundance of foodstuffs.”
He confirmed report that Malaysian economic planners, impressed by the economic successes of the region actually paid visits to Eastern Nigeria to learn about palm three production and processing. “They sent officials who were trained on production of palm oil. They took palm seedlings with which the Asian country delved into production of palm trees. You know the rest of the story. Malaysia is today the world’s leading producer of this lucrative crop. Where is Nigeria and where are the Okpara Farm settlements, which were everywhere in the region as at the time the war started,” he asked regrettably.
Some of the cooperatives include, Igbariam Cooperative Farm Settlement, in today’s Anambra State, Ulonna Farm Settlement in Umuahia, Abia State,
Lamenting the fate of the area after Okpara, Onyekwere said all the settlement farms and the industries that were set up then were abandoned shortly after he left office and joined his ancestors.
According to him, while very little or no tangible effort has been made to effectively revive any of the farm settlements since crude oil exploration and export began to dominate Nigeria’s economy, most of the few major industries that had been built in the South-East zone since then, had been equally abandoned.
Such industries include Golden Guinea Breweries, Niger Gas, Niger Steel, Nkalagu Cement Industries, Enugu Petroleum Depot, Sunrise Flour Mills, Modern Ceramics and Anambra Vegetable Oil Company of Nigeria (AVOC).
In fact, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) in Ebonyi, Enugu and Anambra states on May 2011, openly expressed concern over this development, describing it as unfortunate.
This retrogressive record was not limited to Eastern Nigeria. It was indeed a general problem across the country as petrol dollar ensured that other agricultural activities suffered gravely.
It is on record for example, that as far back as early 1980s, Nigeria had become almost completely dependent on oil production which then generated close to 25 percent of its GDP. Official records show that by 2008, this figure had risen to 60 percent and till date, it has remained on the increase.
This trend has impacted so negatively on agriculture that Nigeria, which used to be net exporters of many agricultural products are now major importers.
A recent report captured the trend thus: “Annual production of both cash and food crops dropped significantly in the latter decades of 20th century, cocoa production dropped by 43 percent, (Nigeria was the world’s largest cocoa exporter in 1960), rubber dropped by 29 percent, cotton by 65 percent, and groundnuts by 64 percent.
Cocoa trade in Southwest
The government of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the Premier of Western Nigeria in the 1960s, made an enduring mark in Africa, especially because of the way it wisely managed and invested proceeds of cocoa and other lucrative agricultural products from the region. But as was the case with groundnut and palm oil trade, cocoa business has suffered greatly since independence. It is on record that Nigeria was the world’s largest exporter of cocoa at the beginning, but reports in the last decade indicate that it had been struggling to retain the position of the fourth largest grower.
Many reasons have been adduced for this decline. Aside neglect for white collar jobs since the emergence of oil, cocoa farmers also blame current government policies for their predicament.
For example, Felix Oladunjoye, the Secretary-General of Cocoa Processors’ Association of Nigeria (COPAN), at the height of the recent global economic crisis, blamed the phenomenon for the deteriorating cocoa trade in the country. The global crisis, he said “has crippled business; almost everything is at a standstill.”
Although it suffered greatly like other major agricultural products, cocoa, according to Alhaji Tajudeen Oladeinde, remains one of the few agricultural products that are still being produced for commercial purposes and for export. He said their products are still shipped to chocolate makers in Europe though the trade has been at a very dull in recent years.
To sustain this, the Federal Government, in 2005, launched an ambitious cocoa revival campaign aimed at boosting production, local processing and domestic consumption of cocoa products.
That effort notwithstanding, Nigeria has remained a light weight in the trade it once led the entire world.
The way out:
Dr. Jona Aremu, economist and international consultant, told The Nation that at independence, Nigeria had very tall dreams. “Our expectations were high. We danced joyfully, knowing that we had what is required to build a great nation. Also, the emerging ruling class, who understudied the colonial administrators, made eloquent and achievable promises.
“But we missed it all when the military took over power and changed everything. This was worsened by the long military rule, which made it difficult for the promises at independence to be fulfilled.”
He regretted that since then, agriculture was sacrificed at the alter of petrol dollar and so everybody started moving away from the farms in search of white collar jobs or oil money.
To redress the situation, he said, “Nigerian government must ensure that local communities have up-to-date infrastructure. To remain in the farms, farmers must be encouraged, the quality of their lifestyle must be improved and good transport facility must be made available to transport their goods, he said.
Pa Onyekwere agreed. According to him, “People are running away from the farms because they feel farming is an inferior job and that they would never make it if they remain in the villages. That impression must be corrected if we want to return the lost glory.”
