•Says it aids poverty
Nigeria’s foremost geographer and Chairman, Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy (ISGPP), Prof. Akin Mabogunje, has called on the federal government to urgently embark on land reform to lift millions of citizens out of poverty.
He spoke at a seminar on the theme: “Decentralized governance, the people and development in Nigeria” which was held at the Bodija, Ibadan premises of the school. The seminar was held in his honour on the occasion of his 86th birthday.
Mabogunje, who is the first Nigerian professor of Geography, said Nigeria was wasting time and the lives of its citizens by holding onto ownership of land through the Land Use Act.
He recalled that China has freed 760 million citizens from poverty in the last 30 years through the instrument of land reform.
According to him, it took Britain 80 years to achieve land reform while it took the United States of America 35 years to do the same. Afterwards, he said their citizens were able to easily use land for economic activities which lifted them out of poverty.
He said: “China raised 760 million citizens out of poverty in the last 30 years through land reform. It brought about huge economic and development activities in the rural areas. Rwanda has also started and I believe that country will soon show Nigeria how to move forward.
“The purpose of land reform is to ensure we take millions of Nigerians out of poverty. A similar idea is what I introduced to them in Ijebu-Ode which is known today as the Ijebu Development Initiative on Poverty Reduction which has built assets in excess of N1.4 billion mostly through aqua culture alone.”
While supporting the general position of discussants at the seminar on the need to decentralize governance in Nigeria for true rural development to happen, Mabogunje emphasized that the current Land Use Act which cedes ownership of lands to the government is counterproductive. But when government denationalizes land ownership, citizens will put more land into productive use, generating huge economic activities that will lift people out of poverty.
Welcoming participants, the Executive Vice Chairman of the school, Dr Tunji Olaopa, explained that rural development and local governance have always been at the centre of Mabogunje’s heart as demonstrated by the concept of OPTICOM (Optimum Community) which he propounded over 30 years ago.
He pointed out that the seminar was aimed at igniting a “national discourse on the obvious truth that the development ideas being implemented in the policy space in Nigeria is not just working, and as we approach 2019, ISGPP as a think tank is worried and concerned. And so, the best time is now for development experts to begin a level of conversation that will deliver an alternative model of development for Nigeria.”
The chairman of the seminar, Prof. Anthony Asiwaju, hailed Mabogunje for his innovations on rural development initiatives and general contributions to Nigerian development.
In his keynote address, Prof. Mike Adeyeye of the Department of Local Government Studies, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, urged states creating local council development areas to make them actual development centres rather than another political arm of corruption or for political correctness.
In his presentation, the Chairman, Presidential Technical Committee on Land Reform, Prof. Peter Adeniyi, called on the All Progressives Congress (APC) to fulfil its campaign promise of reviewing the Land Use Act, expunging it from the constitution and handing over ownership to Nigerians to pave way for real development activities.
Various speakers, including Prof. Ayo Olukotun, Bolanle Awe, Dr Taiwo Olaiya and Dr Tope Aladesanmi paid glowing tributes to Mabogunje for his selfless services to the country.
