Oke Ogun has abundant Natural Resources potential

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Oke Ogun has abundant Natural Resources potential

We speak a lot about our "arable lands", "fruit baskets", "agricultural potential", "solid minerals", omoluabi cultural heritage, natural high integrity & honesty, peace loving and other qualities which should make our state and especially our Oke Ogun region particularly prosperous.

However, various factors have impeded the maturation of these attributes into economically & developmentally sustainable advantages for our region.
One such factor is the inadequate infrastructure, from road networks to power necessary for mechanized agro production, processing, storage and distribution to effective markets.

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In addition, lack of tertiary and advanced technology & research &educational facilities or institutions to help evolve our traditional practices especially in agriculture into more modern tech enhanced and productive enterprises. Many such are concentrated in Ibadan and beyond.

Thirdly, our regional marginalization has precluded us from benefiting much from the various development financing initiatives by various governments, state and federal even multilateral such as the the Bank of Agriculture, Development Bank of Nigeria, Export Promotion Council, CBN Anchor Borrowers programs, Nigerian Content Development Board, AfDB Special Agro Processing Zones etc., etc. These institutions often finance the highly risky innovations, investments and initiatives necessary to take the first loss on potentially transformative projects that other smaller scale or private investors can then follow through to trickle down the technology ( so called "technology diffusion" ) to other parts of the economy and rural communities to power prosperity and local wealth.

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Technology & Agriculture

I stop there about our problems but just to say your article touches on a  major opportunity for us, the intersection of the new Oke Ogun University of Agric & Technology with the potential to develop our economic trees into a sustainable development foundation based on what we know we have in abundance.

A few years ago, I took the shea nut tree idea to my Sepeteri Community, in Saki East LGA to allocate land some of which would be used to develop a domesticated shea nut plantation. Centred around a solar powered agro processing hub, a farm project would also provide local anchor services for nearby farmers, for storage, processing, distribution, equipment rental, technology services diffusion and support, and marketing of other crops & services as well as other products grown on the land itself. 

The idea was almost entirely a mirror of your proposition at a very local level.
Due to the long gestation of the investment, any such effort will be a hugely expensive project, with low return initially. But over a long period of time, maybe generations, like cocoa in other parts of the SW and Ghana, or palm and rubber in Malaysia and Nigeria's SS, future generations of Oke Ogun people would no longer be poor through the decisions and patient investments we make today. 

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Then the whole ecosystem of cosmetic and food processing industries that are based on the shea butter will develop over time, with the right investments and  infrastructure in our area.
I proposed allocating part of the land for a model farm to University of Ibadan, who have extensive experience and expertise with this kind of work and whose UCH have generously built a Rural Comprehensive Health Centre in Sepeteri as well.
We are still hopeful of getting this off the ground in the nearest future.

HE our Governor Makinde's SSG is the ex DVC of UI in charge of strategic partnerships and also one of us from Oke Ogun.

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The new University should rapidly leverage her expertise and position to help them harvest the myriad of Ibadan-based research institutions that can help us fast track this university into the best of its kind in Nigeria.

Another great erudite engineer scientist friend Dr Isaiah Oladeji a Kishi native, has researched and identified unique Oke Ogun tree with high energy density sufficient to create a bio fuels energy  solution that can additionally help solve the burning of economic trees in our region. Speaking of multi- purpose sustainable innovation in energy and the environment!

So a new Oke Ogun university is in good position to take your suggestions and very quickly develop an economic tree program, (among others, of course) anchored on the deeper environmental and economic benefits you listed.

Obviously, more needs to be done as the institution develops, but it's an exciting time for Oke Ogun. A new technology & agricultural university, granted us by a new President;
a clamoring for rotational gubernatorial process in Oyo championed by Egbe Ajosepo - GOAL- which is gathering steam across the State and even in Abuja;
a very successful two term Governor open to the idea and who has been instrumental in improving the infrastructure and adopting new agro


business models ..... suggests to me God is finally smiling at Oke Ogun and it's people.

I thank you for highlighting this opportunity and look forward to a brighter future for our people.

Blessed weekend and barka de Sallah to all

H. Sola Oyinlola
Ile Iyakun
Sepeteri-Oke Ogun
Also of Houston,  Texas USA

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