How SEDC’s agro-mechanisation project gained widespread community support across South East

By Emmanuel Nzomiwu

The importance of community engagement for government projects cannot be overstated. Community engagement ensures that government projects meet actual public needs, gain local acceptance and achieve long term success. The benefits include increased trust, shared ownership, early problem solving and inclusivity, to mention but a few.

Regrettably, many laudable government projects in Nigeria failed or became abandoned because the planners did not involve local communities from the onset. For instance, the Great Green Wall Project of the Federal Government, the multi-billion-naira afforestation and tree-planting efforts in rural areas, suffered setbacks because local dwellers were not fully engaged or given a sense of ownership, leading to poor maintenance.

Similarly, many rural solar lighting installations tracked by civic groups like BudgIT stopped working within a year because communities were not included in maintenance planning or security oversight. Numerous boreholes and small agricultural hubs across various states fell into disrepair shortly after commissioning because the host communities viewed them as “government property,” rather than their own.

Mindful of the importance of community support to the success and sustenance of government projects, the South East Development Commission (SEDC) led by the visionary Mark Okoye Jr. conducted a series of community stakeholder engagements across the South East region, ahead of the launch of its proposed 15 agro-mechanisation projects in the region. The stakeholder engagements are foundational to the SEDC Vision 2050 and the South East Agricultural Development Programme (SEADP), aimed at driving food security, commercial agriculture, and youth empowerment.

The sessions prioritised early buy-in, land access clarity, and security assurance to ensure seamless establishment of mechanised pilot farms. The stakeholder engagements coordinated by the SEDC Executive Director (Natural Resources, Agriculture and Rural Development), Dr. Cliff Ogbede afforded the commission the opportunity to highlight the benefits of the projects, such as the provision of numerous direct and indirect employment and business opportunities, and attracting local and foreign investors.

Other benefits are attracting the youths to agriculture, fighting insecurity, and offering Ndigbo at home and in the diaspora the opportunity to participate in rebuilding their region, which suffered serious setback during the Nigeria-Biafra civil war.Besides, the commission used the opportunity to disabuse the minds of Ndigbo about the agro-mechanisation, especially the notion that it was a ploy to grab land for cattle grazing.

During a community engagement with leaders and stakeholders at Nomeh, Nkanu East LGA, Enugu East Senatorial District, Dr. Ogbede recalled that the economy of Eastern Nigeria was once rated among the fastest-growing economies in the world, as a result of its exploits in agriculture and agro-industrialisation in the 1950s and 60s, under the visionary leadership of late Premier, Dr. Michael Okpara.

The Executive Director, who was represented by his Technical Adviser, Dr. Chris Uwadoka restated the commitment of SEDC, not only to restore the lost glory of the South East, but to make the region globally competitive today in the agriculture and agro-industrial sector.

According to him, besides Nomeh, the agro-mechanisation projects would be sited at Elugwu Akwu-Achi, Oji River LGA in Enugu West Senatorial District, and Nkpologwu in Uzo-Uwani LGA in Enugu North Senatorial District, to the benefit of the host communities, Enugu State and the South East region in general. He commended Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah for his proactive approach in laying out a robust and elaborate agricultural blueprint for the state.

Making remarks, Enugu State Liaison Officer to the Commission, Chief Edeani Edeani, expressed the determination of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Governor Peter Mba to use agriculture to fight insecurity. Edeani assured that with such massive agro-mechanisation projects across the South East, all unoccupied spaces serving as hideout for criminals would be recovered and gainfully occupied for agricultural and agro-industrial purposes.

Speaking on behalf of the host community, the Traditional Ruler of Nomeh Unateze, H.R.H Igwe Israel Okonkwo Mbah, showered praises on the Federal Government and SEDC for choosing his community as one of the sites for the agro-mechanisation project, the first of its kind in the South East since the end of the civil war. Mbah, who was represented by the Traditional Prime Minister, Chief Daniel Anikpuma, expressed optimism that the project would bring back the pre-civil war glory of Nomeh Unateze community as a bustling railway and agricultural town.

On behalf of the town union, Uchenna Anyanwu, an engineer, guaranteed the total support of the community for the project, assuring that all necessary machinery would be put in place to ensure the smooth execution and security of the project. Another community leader, Veronica Onwude, acknowledged that the project had rekindled the hope of Nomeh people, including women, their husbands, and youths, of gainful employment in the near future.

The Commission, supported by officials of the Enugu State Government had earlier conducted similar stakeholder engagements at Elugwu Akwu-Achi, Oji River LGA in Enugu West Senatorial District, and Nkpologwu in Uzo-Uwani LGA in Enugu North Senatorial District. The stakeholder engagements were conducted alongside pilot site inspections in the designated areas for the agro-mechanisation projects.

During the site visits, the team from SEDC inspected 4000 hectares of land, comprising 2000 hectares in Nkpologwu and 2000 hectares in Elugwu Akwu-Achi, for the projects. The Nigeria Agricultural Land Development Agency (NALDA), the Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Bank of Industry (BOI) and Nigerian Incentive-Based risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NISRAL), a non-bank financial institution created by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to de-risk agricultural lending, are supporting the SEDC agro-mechanisation projects. Several commercial and micro-finance banks have equally expressed willingness to support the initiative driven by Dr. Ogbede, who has been working for the realisation of the project in the past 11 months.

Having secured the community support, the commission is set to launch 15 agro-mechanisation projects across the South East region. The project is projected to generate up to one million jobs through the agricultural value chain, including processing, marketing, and transportation.

I cannot conclude this article without commending the tireless efforts of the SEDC Managing Director, Mr. Mark Okoye Jnr. and Dr. Ogbede, towards the realisation of the agro-mechanisation projects in the South East region.

Nzomiwu, a public affairs commentator writes from Enugu.