Ogun promises CCN land for farming

The Ogun State government has promised to provide land to the Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN) if it was interested in medium to large scale farming operation.

The State Commissioner for Agriculture, Mrs. Adepeju Adebajo, made this known at the council’s annual World Food Day programme and the Global Church Week of Action on Food held at the African Church Cathedral, Abeoukta, Ogun State, as part of efforts to ensure food security and zero hunger towards 2030.

Adebajo who was represented by Mrs. Josephine Sodiya-Soetan, the Director, Agricultural services, in the state said, ‘’ World Food Day is an annual event. This day is already set aside by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a division of the United Nations, to create awareness on the plight of the greater part of the world in creating the daily requirements of food in terms of quality and quantity. The day is all about recognizing the world wide problem,’’ she stated.

Adebajo who said the goal of ending hunger required not just words, but collective actions since feeding the nation’s growing population was unlikely to be achieved through government’s efforts alone, added, ‘’ We need to enlist everyone’s support if we are to ensure food security and adequate nutrition on a global scale and truly become the zero-hunger nation. Over the years, Ogun State government has put all machineries in motion in an effort to end hunger and achieve food security.’’

The State Chairman of CCN, Revd. Babatunde Gbogboade, said, ‘’Everyone in the Church must wake up and get involved in farming, maybe just at your backyard you could plant vegetable or rear animals on a small scale. If everyone produces, we all would have enough to eat.’’
Gbogboade compared the situation in Europe at local government levels where farming was on a rotational basis by farmers and inhabitants that such practice has brought about abundance of farm produce, stating it was difficult to identify who was a farmer unlike the Nigerian situation where farming was done at a very crude and subsistence level.

He therefore advised such practice could be emulated in Nigeria to prevent hunger and famine.
Those that graced the event were Revd. Peter Oyero, the Bishop of Egba Diocese, African Church; Revd. Joseph Adimula, Bishop of Egba Diocese, the Church of the Lord Prayer Fellowship World wide (TCLPFW); and Revd. Solomon Ojumu, Archbishop, Ogun State Province, among others.