Kogi farmers demand N2.5 billion compensation

“The state government plans to use about 250 hectares of farmlands for the development of a new city.” 

Not less than 100 farming families, whose land the Kogi Government wants to use to build a housing estate on Mount Patti in Lokoja, are demanding N2.5 billion as compensation.

Speaking in Lokoja on Sunday, spokesman for the farmers, Francis Animoku, said they wanted an equivalent area in a suitable part of Lokoja for farming.

Animoku said the area accounted for 25 per cent of the total food production in the state. He warned that Lokoja and its environs might face a food crisis if the government carried out the plan.

He said the farmers engaged in all season farming; producing cashew, mango, bananas, maize, yam, groundnuts and cassava.

Animoku said the two experimental farms for Jetropha cultivation on the plateau of Mount Patti would have to be destroyed for the project and described the development as unfortunate.

He said such a development would be a setback to the government’s efforts to boost agriculture production and grow the economy, adding that it would force some farmers and their families to relocate from Lokoja to other parts of the state.

The spokesman acknowledged that the project would give Lokoja a facelift. He, however, maintained that the government should accept full responsibility by paying the farmers N2.5 billion as compensation.

Animoku said the compensation was for the food and crash crops that would be destroyed in the area while their demand for another 250 hectares was to enable them to continue their activities and be free from poverty.

He said that all the farming families currently on the land should be considered for allocation of residential plots on Mount Patti.

The state government on August 10 announced its intention to acquire more than 250 hectares of farmland for the development of a new city.

Governor Ibrahim Idris said the land would be divided into 5,000 plots.

-By Tony Tamuno

Source: DailyTimes