ONDO: Agro Firm Denies Farmland Destruction Allegation, Insists Land Was Legally Acquired
SAO Agro Allied Service Limited has denied allegations by farmers in Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State, who accused the firm and the state government of destroying their farmlands located within the Oluwa Forest Reserve.
The farmers, in their hundreds, staged a protest on Sunday, and blocked the Lagos/Ore Expressway for several hours.
They claimed that SAO Agro, with backing from the Ondo State Government, had begun clearing their plantations in an alleged land takeover.
But speaking with journalists on Monday in Akure, the Vice Chairman of SAO Agro Allied Service Ltd, Mr. David Olijogun, dismissed the claims, and insisted that the firm acquired the land legally through proper channels over five years ago.
“We are investors, large-scale commercial investors for that matter. We are into agriculture and other agricultural value chains. We are into plantations, aquaculture, poultry production, cassava growing, and other value chains in agriculture. We are the lead investors in SAPZ Ondo State,” Olijogun stated
He explained that their presence in Ondo was prompted by a national call to boost palm oil production.
He said, “What actually brought us to Ondo State to do farming business is a call by the Federal Government to fight the deficit that was identified in the agricultural sector, particularly palm oil production.
“The Federal Government identified the potential of palm oil production and the deficit observed in the domestic availability of that particular product in the country. The Federal Government called investors that have enough capacity to invest in this part of agriculture, and when these investors were identified, including ourselves, it was agreed that for us to be able to beat the deficit in the production of palm oil, investors and farmers that are interested in this particular sector must invest at a large-scale level.”
Olijogun added that land was made available through a systematic process.
“FG looked at what we can do to make land available. Visibility studies were conducted, and it was identified that there were some forest reserves that were idle. Nothing is being done there. They are not generating revenue for the government, and that was the only area and only place where enough land could be identified and given to investors who have the capacity to invest in this business,” he said.
He noted that the Oluwa Forest Reserve was one of the reserves declassified for agricultural investment.
Olijogun further said, “So most of these forest reserves that were idle, that have become a den of kidnappers, were declassified. Declassified in the sense that the forestry law was removed and made it available for people to be able to plant there. 100,000 hectares of land were affected in this, and this forest was declassified and allocated to investors who showed interest in investing in our oil production, of which we are part of these investors.”
On the 10,000 hectares allocated to SAO Agro in Odigbo, he staid, “We are one of the leading investors in Ondo State. 10,000 hectares were allocated to us, particularly in the Odigbo local government in Ore. So this was given to us, we processed, we did all necessary processing, we paid necessary revenue, we collected C of Own.
“This happened there over five years ago, and we started paying revenue on a yearly basis. We pay an average of N40 million every year. Let me tell you, this particular land we are talking about – it’s not that we are just coming to this land. We’ve been there; we actually started our business on the land in 2021. As I speak to you on this particular land we are talking about, we paid due revenue payment.”
Olijogun also debunked allegations linking the newly appointed Managing Director of the Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Mr. Ayo Sotinrin, to the matter.
“The former CEO had already resigned from the firm on the 7th of April this year, thereby linking him to the allegations was uncalled for,” he stated.
In his remarks, the Chief Operations Officer of SAO Agro, Mr. Uthama Seelan, urged authorities to act swiftly to prevent discouragement of future investment in the state.
“Failure to quickly address this issue may discourage more investors from investing in the state,” Seelan warned.
As at the time of press, the Ondo State Government has yet to officially respond to the protest or the clarifications issued by SAO Agro.
ONDO: Agro Firm Denies Farmland Destruction Allegation, Insists Land Was Legally Acquired is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
