At the weekend, the senator representing Ogun East Senatorial district, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, appealed to the federal government to ensure the speedy completion of the Strategic Grain Reserve at Irolu in the Ikenne Local Government area of the state to guarantee food security and self-sufficiency for Nigerians.
This is just as Daniel disclosed that the South West Development Commission (SWDC) is already considering urgently reactivating the abandoned Ikenne Livestock Dairy Farm, also located in Ikenne Local Government, to complement the Strategic Grain Reserve and boost the Ogun State economy.
Daniel, a two-term governor of the state, stated these on Sunday while addressing the people of Ilishan-Remo while continuing his midterm assessment tour of the district’s nine local government areas.
Daniel explained that the twin projects of the Strategic Grain Reserve and the Live stocks Dairy Farm facility both would serve the people of the South West, not only as a monument but as a machine for food security, with the capacity to generate over 10, 000 jobs of skilled and unskilled workforce under its value chains in Small and Medium-Scale enterprises (SMSEs) in the South Western Nigeria.
He disclosed that the Livestocks Dairy Farm project, conceptualised under his administration as the state governor between 2003 and 2011, with other components on meat production and leather processing, was affected by the political crises that erupted in the twilight of his administration, making it unable to access the Bond financial instrument, part of which was to go into the funding of this project.
“I am happy to report that this project is now being reactivated in principle and will be considered by the new South West Development Commission (SWDC).
“As the Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on SWDC, we will work closely with the Board and Management to achieve more in the spirit and principles that guided its creation. This will be fashioned after heritage institutions like the old Western Nigerian Development Corporation (WNDC) of the late sage, Pa Awolowo, in the 60s/70s”.
“It is time that the multi-billion-naira facility serves the people of Ikenne, not just as a monument, but as a machine for food security and job creation. No federal project should live in darkness while the host community starves beside it”.
