Residents of various towns in Kwara State's Edu Local Government Area have complained that BUA Sugar Company, which is located in the area, has caused socioeconomic problems in their communities without providing proper compensation.
In videos shot by residents and obtained by SaharaReporters, Edu LGA residents, primarily farmers, are seen accusing the company of acquiring all of their farmlands in 2014 and failing to deliver on all of the promises made to them nine years after their agreement.
A resident, who identified himself as Muhammed Abubakar narrated how the situation has been affecting farming, which is the major source of livelihood in these communities.
He claimed that the BUA company acquired their farmland with the intention of benefiting them and driving growth in their towns, but that nine years later, the BUA company has become a source of suffering for them.
He said, “When they started BUA in our area in 2014, according to their promise with us, they said we would benefit so many things from BUA but up till now, we are now suffering in our area because of many reasons.
“We are farmers, we farm in our areas, now we don’t enjoy our land again for farming. This is because BUA company took over the area. We are now suffering. They promised that Insha Allah when they start working in our area, we are going to benefit so many things there. Now even farms that we farm, we are now managing because all our lands are now in BUA company.”
“They have not compensated us with anything. When they collected our lands, they said they would give us money for land. Individually they gave us N7,600 and since then nothing on it again,” he added.
Another resident, Umar Muhammad, lamented the situation in his community. He berated the company for taking too long to finish the construction of their site in the area.
“This issue surprised us in our village because in most of the villages in Nigeria where companies buy their land, the villages enjoy some things from the company. Since BUA bought all our farmland, we have not seen any achievements from BUA. When did Dangote buy land for his company in Lagos and that they finished it?”
Hence, he urged the company to release their land so that some of them who are fit can return to farming.
He continued: “Most of our people are schooling without jobs. So we are appealing to them if they are not working on the company again, they should release our land to continue our farming jobs, to continue with our source of livelihood.”
A woman, who simply identified herself as Maryam lamented how the BUA company situation in her community has rendered her children and husband jobless due to scarcity of land to farm and the deterioration of roads that connect her community to other cities to enhance easy distribution of their farm produce.
She said, “Since the year they took our land, they have done nothing for our community. It is up to 9 years. They did not bring any development, except the N1 million they brought during that time.
“They collected our husbands’ farmland and left them with nothing. Our roads have been damaged. They did not repair it and it is their lorries that damage the roads. The company did not bring anything again except the money.
“Our children and our husbands have been rendered jobless due to this situation. The company did not employ anybody from our community.”
To get the reaction of the company to these lamentations, SaharaReporters called the contact number provided by the company on its website and one Engineer Muri answered the call.
He, however, hung up after our correspondent stated the reason for calling and did not answer subsequent calls.