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MINNA – As controversy surrounding the ownership of, “Niger Foods”, situated along Tagwai dam, Chanchaga Local Government Area, Minna continues to generate more questions, farmers in the area have cried out over alleged confiscation of their farm lands by Niger state government.
This is coming as Niger state government claims that it has 30 percent instead of earlier speculated 10 percent ownership of, “Niger Foods” situated at the large land space near Tagwai dam, the permanent operational base of the company.
Halidu Umar, one of the farmers who lost almost all their farm lands to the state said he and his kinsmen lost several acres of farm lands to Niger state government between 2014 and 2019, and promised to compensate them with jobs but reneged.
Halidu spoke to our correspondent at a one-day stakeholder’s roundtable on the Implications of industrial animal farming in Nigeria, organized by, Youth Mobilization for Food Systems Transformation and Community Development Through Agroecology (YARN), in Minna, Niger state.
Halidu who attended the roundtable with some farmers from the area said, “They gave us N2 million, took all our farmlands and promised to give us jobs, but they have failed to fulfill the promise to us”.
Sharing experiences of hunger and sufferings his family in particular and the entire Tagwai dam community have been going through since their lands were taken, Halidu lamented that even jobs they were promised were more of deceitfulness than genuine concern for them.
He alleged that, “They promised to give us job as compensation but only engaged our people as labourers, pay them N8, 000 which they recently reviewed to N50, 000, while the least of the staffs who are mostly non-Nigerlites receive between N100, 000 and above”.
Halidu further explained that, “Almost all the staff working at Niger Foods are non-indigenes from a particular section of Nigeria, all of them paid handsomely, to them, we the land owners are only good at doing labourer work”.
Tagwai community have over 500 acres of their land lost to Niger Foods, and this according to Halidu caused more of hunger and hardship farmers in the area, including him are facing today.
Expressing regrets that Tagwai people have been badly short-changed, the young farmer said he is still hopeful that one day his people will stand up and reclaim their lands and continue with their farming unmolested instead of the endless waiting.
Meanwhile, the Director, climate change, Niger State Ministry of Environment and Climate change, Alhaji Hashimu Garba has put to rest speculations that Niger Foods belongs to Niger state government.
The revelation by Hashimu is coming barely days after critics accused the state Governor, Mohammed Umar Bago of using the facility as one of the conduit pipes to syphon state money.
Ownership of Niger Foods has been shrouded in secrecy, even as Governor Bago had been borrowing to fund its activities.
While many had thought that the facility belonged to the state government, Garba told participants at the One-Day roundtable which took place at Brighter Suites that Niger state has only 30 percent share on the business as against 10 percent initially being speculated.
