Jonathan moves to repeal Land Use Act

In a bid to boost accessibility to land, President Goodluck Jonathan has directed the Presidential Committee on Land Reform to work out modalities for the repeal of the Land Use Act 1978, observing that Nigeria’s economy would not grow without massive investment in agriculture.

 

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Akinwumi Adesina, made this known on Monday in Abuja at a summit on Realising the Potentials of Agriculture in Africa, which was organised by the Rockefeller Foundation as part of its centenary celebration. Jonathan noted at the summit that there has been an unprecedented transformation in Nigeria’s agriculture sector, adding that the country must look towards agriculture to feed its people and earn foreign exchange. “Unless we transform agriculture, our economy can’t grow,” he said. “Millions of our people depend on agriculture for livelihood, not oil; we must look elsewhere if we will continue to feed our people. “Agriculture has a new frontier for growth; with abundant land and water resources and vibrant labour force, Nigeria has all it takes to use agriculture as its new frontier for growth.” He added that the country has no reason to be an importer of food items since it has vast arable land and favourable ecology.

Adesina said the presidential committee was tasked to ensure that Nigerians have land titles. According to him, the President wants the Land Use Act removed from the constitution to ensure that Nigerians can begin to have land titles, which can stand as collateral for lending or accessing funds. Adesina also said the Federal Government was doing a lot about land registration, in terms of cadastral survey, mapping and ensuring that anybody who wants lands for agricultural purposes could access it. He disclosed that government would change the labour composition of the country’s agricultural sector by recruiting 760, 000 for agricultural production and processing before the end of the year.


 The empowerment strategy, Adesina said, would cover provision of access to land, which would be accomplished in conjunction with state governments, technical skills, business investment skills and provision of funds. He warned that the country was at the verge of agricultural extinction if young farmers were not empowered, stating: “The structure of the population of our farmers is old; a lot of them are aging rapidly, so we are essentially one generation away from extinction in agriculture if we don’t change the labour composition. “So we are creating this programme, which would be launched sometime this year. It is called Nigeria Agricultural Entrepreneur (Nagro-preneurs), (involving) about 760, 000 young commercial farmers (who) be graduates from universities. "This new generation of farmers will take Nigeria well into the future with efficient and comparative agricultural sector. It is a presidential initiative.”

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