Legal icon and Edupreneur, Aare
Afe Babalola (SAN) gave out N13.2 million to farmers in Ekiti State on Sunday.
This, he said, was part of
efforts to encourage farming and lift farmers financially.
Babalola, who is also the founder
of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), is reputed to be the biggest
farmer and highest taxpayer in Ekiti State.
The gifting of money to farmers
took place at the grand finale of this year’s edition of the Annual Afe
Babalola Agricultural Expo and UNESCO Youth Empowerment, held at the
university’s sports pavilion.
At the event, Mr Aribasoye
Emmanuel, from Ado Local Government Area, got the star prize of N2 million as
the overall best farmer in the state for the year.
The five best farmers in each of
the 16 Local Government Areas, got N250,000, N150,000, N100,000, N75,000 and
N50,000 respectively.
Babalola said distributing money
to hardworking farmers on annual basis was a fulfilment of his dream.
“This is in the realisation of my
dream. It all started like a dream which translated into reality in 2015.
“The dream was my burning desire
to make people realise that farming is a divine vocation.
“It is also part of my
contributions to ongoing efforts at revitalising farming as well as reducing
unemployment in the country.
“Another reason why I started
this Expo was that I found it utmost painful that many Nigerians have abandoned
farming for white-collar or menial jobs and also for no jobs
“Many of us in the country are
familiar with the story of the Garden of Eden in the Holy Bible where we were
made to understand that God, in His wisdom, established the Garden and asked
Adam and his wife, Eve, to look after the Garden.
“There was a time in this country
when whatever one’s profession was, such a person would still have a small
garden at the back of his house, if only for vegetables, tomatoes, pepper and
garden eggs, among others,’’ he observed.
“Let me use this opportunity to
appeal to the Federal Government to establish a special Agriculture Bank, which
will be completely different from those before it.
“This is where farmers can obtain
loans at low-interest rates with their cooperative societies serving as
guarantors,’’ he added.
The ABUAD founder expressed
regret that farming has suddenly become abandoned and discouraged in Nigeria.
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“Farming has been abandoned in
Nigeria today and Nigeria is the worse for it. For instance, the time was when
Ekiti State alone was producing 52 per cent of the Internally-Generated Revenue
of the defunct Western Region.
“Today, Ekiti State is the
poorest state in Nigeria. There was no beggar in Ekiti State at that time as
everyone was gainfully employed, but today beggars are found everywhere.
“Regretfully, Ekiti State has
become the poverty capital of Nigeria,’’ Aare Babalola said.
Continuing, Babalola said “Also,
no thanks to the spate of insecurity ranging from kidnapping, robbery and
invasion by herdsmen ravaging the country, life is no longer safe at home, on
the farm, on the road or even in classrooms.
“The combination of these ills
has led many farms to be destroyed with many farmers having to abandon their
farms.
“Thank God that despite all
these, Ekiti State farmers have been able to forge ahead. I believe in farming
because I grew up on the farm and I am still a farmer as many of you know,’’ he
said.
He added that he included the
study of agriculture in the curriculum of his university, with a 50 per cent
slash in tuition fee for the course.
“In my university, we provide
seed money for graduates of agriculture to start their businesses.
“That was why in addition to all
of these, in 2015, I thought of how to improve a lot of our farmers.
“That is why I started this
programme. I started with a prize of N5 million, but it has risen over the
years, thus this year, we are giving out N13.2 million,’’ he said.
The Local Organising Committee
Chairman and UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship Education for Sustainable
Development, Prof. Abiodun Ojo, also donated 48 spraying machines to select
farmers.
He said that partnering with
ABUAD was to commend the good work which Aare Afe Babalola was doing to return
agriculture to its old days of glory.
Mr Olugbenga Odesanmi, Permanent
Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Ekiti State who stood in for the state
government, commended Babalola’s efforts and promised the government’s enabling
environment at all times.
Earlier in her address of
welcome, the Acting Vice-Chancellor of ABUAD, Prof. Miranda Olarinde,
appreciated the founder’s gesture to farmers.
She said that the best way the
beneficiaries could show gratitude to him was to invest wisely, the monies
received so they would be able to fend for themselves and also provide
employment for others.
NAN
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