Residents Protest as Nasarawa Demolishes FG Sesame Processing Centre
Igbawase Ukumba in Lafia
Residents of Shabu, a suburb of Lafia, the capital of Nasarawa State yesterday protested demolition of a Seseme Processing Centre built by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in the area by the Nasarawa State government.
The residents, who spoke to journalists yesterday called on Governor Abdullahi Sule to set up an investigation panel to unravel the mystery behind the demolition.
A traditional title holder in the area (Makongijin Shabu), Al-Muhammad Ubabu, condemned the act, adding that it has brought setback to the community and the state.
The traditional title holder, however, lauded the federal government for bringing such a project to the community to help in value addition to the sesame seeds being produced in the state.
He said the project could have provided employment opportunity to youths, women and others thereby reducing crime and poverty.
The Shabu traditional title holder explained that when the project was demolished in March 2021, the traditional ruler of the area, Mamud Bwala, reported the matter to Governor Abdullahhi Sule.
“The governor on receipt of the report of the demolition by Sangari Shabu immediately sent a delegation who came and assessed the level of damage. Thereafter, the governor directed that the centre be reconstructed immediately, “but after nine months, we are still waiting.”
“The youths often times planned to revolt against the delay of the reconstruction, but the traditional ruler and other stakeholders appealed to them to await government’s response.”
Similarly, President of Shabu Youths Movement, Mohammed Shaibu-Madaki, said it was really very sad for such a project capable of taking youths off the street to be demolished.
He said that whenever they wanted to take any action, their leaders would appealed to them and assured that the government would rebuild the centre.
He said the traditional ruler assured them that the state government promised to rebuild the centre, but wondered why nine months after nothing was being done.
He said they (youths) have shown maturity in handling the matter, but appealed to the state government to investigate the matter, punish those responsible and rebuild the centre for the overall development of the state.
Nasarawa State Coordinator of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Ikechukwu Otomata, confirmed the demolition of the Sesame Processing Factory to journalists.
He said the federal government, through the ministry, has decided to assist sesame farmers towards value addition before marketing given their recent ratting as first in the production of the product in Nigeria.
He explained that they received a distress call that Nasarawa State Urban Development Board (NUDB) demolished the project just a day after it was handed over to them by the contractor.
The coordinator said: “The contractor completed his work and received certificate of completion on March 3, 2021 and the project was demolished on March 4, 2021. It was completed and equipped with state of the arts processing facilities including electricity generating set to ensure adequate power supply.
“The facilities are still in the demolished structure. But when we wanted to move them to our office in Lafia, the traditional ruler assured us that the community would protect them.”
Otomata, however concluded that the ministry was planning to handover the project to the state government before it was demolished by the NUDB.
When contacted, Managing Director of the NUDB, Mr. Yahaya Wada, explained that the processing centre was demolished for failure to get necessary approvals before commencing the project.
