The Chief Executive Officer of Ugwuanama Farms Ltd, Alhaji Sani Nnaji has dispelled insinuations in different quarters that the proposed Produce City by Enugu State government was a decoy for the establishment of RUGA in the State.
Sani whose farm would control 15 hectares of land in the project said that some individuals out of envy had gone to social media to misinform the people, accusing peddlers of such rumors as blackmailers.
He clarified that nowhere in the Memorandum of Understanding which his company signed with the State government did it mention livestock or anything close to RUGA.
He said: “We are aware of all sorts of misinformation, innuendoes and sometimes blackmails, particularly in the social media, probably because of our religious background, with some people postulating that what we are try to do is to enthrone RUGA in the state, but I can tell you that all that are false and cheap blackmail and nativity.
“As far as we are concerned in Ugwuanama Farms limited, our signed agreement with the Enugu state government clearly spelt out that we are not going to do livestock there. We have decided to refrain from joining issues from certain individuals and groups in social media trying to malign the image of Ugwuanama Farms limited by linking its activities with animal farming agents. This allegation is clearly baseless and imaginary.
“What we are doing is essentially crop production. So for those that are well informed, they should know that what we are doing is crop production. That is what we are known for all over Nigeria. It is not just in Enugu state, we started it in Jigawa state where we have 15,000 hectares of land and in Zamfara state as well. This is what we have been doing for more than 10 years.
Speaking on the activities of the company, Sani said that they have been in operation in other parts of the country for several years and have also engaged in farming activities in Isi-uzo Local Government Area for over four years.
“Ours is an outfit that has been in the business of crop production in Nigeria over the years. We had established commercial agriculture in some states of Nigeria such as in Zamfara and Jigawa where we have over 15,000 hectares of land that we have been planting crops such as rice, mazie cereals and others in commercial quantities and we had made marks in those areas.
“The company at the present is aggressively investing in food production, particularly in cereal and cassava which is why we recently entered into Public Private Partnership agreement with the Enugu State government for the development of a Produce City in Isi-Uzo local government area. The Produce City in no distant time will be commissioned by the Governor of Enugu state, His Excellency Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah.
“We have actually been in this practice for over four years in Isi-Uzo local government area and the beneficiaries of this scheme are there to confirm for themselves. In this particular Produce City we have already started the land development, we have collected data of farmers in Isi-Uzo local government area and in Enugu East senatorial district with the purpose of empowering them with farm imputes because they are our out growers.
He said that Ugwuanama Farms limited is a limited liability company registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) with known persons as Shareholders and Directors.
“They are: Ahmed Ibrahim Sani, Maryam Sani Saidu, Zainab Sani Ahmad, Ahmed Sani Ibrahim, Ibrahim Hassan and Shehu Layusat Jubri. Ahmad Zainab Sani is the secretary of the company, while my humble self is the Chief Executive of the company.
“We are natives of Ugwuanama in Mbu-Amon, Isi uzo local government area of Enugu state and our company is managed by competent family strategists who are quiet versatile in different fields of Agriculture.
On why they decided to extend the company to the South East, Nnaji said: “We decided to bring down our investment down to our native Enugu state because of the Igbo philosophy, Aku Ruo Ulo, which Ohanaeze Ndigbo and other pan-Igbo organizations have preached all the while and we quiet agree with them.
“We are already concluding with the host communities on the social responsibilities contracts with the host communities. Please bear in mind that the land was given by the communities to the Enugu state government who in turn ceded the land for us for cultivation of the crops that we mentioned earlier.
“In the venture which will soon commence operation we are looking at introducing smart and mechanical agricultural systems that will develop out growers while we become off takers. What this means is that the communities who are the land owners are the real farmers with our support and at harvest. We buy up their produce at the prevailing market prices.
“We are going to introduce both smart and mechanical agricultural system. We are going to employ a lot of persons there. We are getting farmers all over Enugu East Senatorial Zone. We are going to empower those farmers by giving them inputs, ranging from fertilizers, agro chemicals and others. They are going to be our out-growers. We are going to mobilize some other youths to those sites where we farm mainly cassava and palm products. This is going to create a lot of jobs.
“These concept would creat hundreds and thousands of employment both direct and indirect jobs. Already we have established a processing plant at Ikem that processes cassava. We are going to process it into different types of values chains; majorly in cassava and ethanol.
“Majority of ethanol we consume in Nigeria, about 80 to 90 percent are imported while we have the best raw materials here in our land. With each six Kilogram of cassava you can get one liter of ethanol. So we are in the best position to harness the raw materials for the benefit of boosting rural economy.
When you are using cassava, both animal feeds, starch, ethanol is there for production. We have cassava flour and other things. The state target is to have about five million tons of cassava every year and we are trying to contribute at least 50% of these extimatuons.”
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