Ogun, Germany To Partner On Food Production

By Bukola Badmus, Abeokuta

Ogun State Governor Prince Dapo Abiodun has called for the exploration of available partnership options between Germany and Ogun State in the area of food production.

He said Ogun State is looking at ways of contributing to the food security agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Prince Abiodun stated this when he received the Consul General, German Embassy, Weert Borner in his Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta office on Thursday.

Abiodun noted that his administration is on the lookout for partners in the area of merchandised farming, adding that the state government would be supporting small farmers across eight extension services by teaching them how to grow. 

The governor also said that tractors and other forms of merchanized farming equipments that will help his administration in achieving it's plan will also be provided for farmers in the state.

"I will like to explore with you and have partnership that we can find with the German government in supporting us in our new resolve to up the ante in food production.

"Our new policy now is to partner anyone who wants to come and farm in Ogun State by providing the land, by ensuring that the lands are accessible, by also clearing the land.

"To that extent, we are looking for partners in the area of merchandised farming and providing tractors and other forms of merchanized farming techniques that will help us in achieving our plan.

"In the last few days, we've been deliberating on how to ensure that we contribute our quota to the food security agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

"We believe that we can easily be the bread basket of this nation and we are devising new strategies to achieve the objective in the shortest time.

"We have an ambitious plan of ensuring that in the next 12 months, this becomes easily visible across the state. We welcome partners that will assist us in that part," he said.

Abiodun while commending the German Government over the capacity building program of GIZ in the state, confirmed the position of the state as the number one in non-oil revenue in the country as a result of the abundance of mineral resources, particularly limestone.

He also noted that his administration has removed all forms of bottlenecks that had hitherto impeded the ability of investors to set up in the state.

"In the areas of what you've done with us in the past in terms of capacity building or the education sector, ease of doing business, what we have done as a state is to ensure that we create access for ourselves. We increase our efficiency to remove unnecessary bottlenecks that hitherto had impeded the ability of people to come and set up here.

"We set up the PPP Office. We set up the Ogun State Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency. We also set up a one stop shop that we called the Ogun State Business Environment Council so that all those who need to work together to make this kind of thing happen are well notified and are easily reachable so that we can remove whatever is a stumbling block," he added.

Earlier in his remarks, the Consul General noted that the German government is looking at increasing its ties with the state in the agricultural sector and energy transition.

"The two major areas we want to focus in increasing cooperation between Ogun State and Germany is the agricultural sector; meaning better production, better methods of agriculture, plus making agriculture more sustainable and environment friendly and of cause supporting Ogun State in food security for all of Nigeria.

"The second area is the energy transition to improve the build up of renewable energy and the grid development in Nigeria," he said.

He commended the road network from Lagos State to the state capital, describing it as remarkable.