The BUA Sugar company has claimed it had paid all the compensations due to every concerned resident of communities in the Edu Local Government Area in line with guidelines of the state government at the point of acquisition years ago.
This was coming as a reaction to the claims by Edu residents on how BUA sugar company had been a cause of hardship to their communities.
SaharaReporters had reported how the residents of Efagi town in Lafiagi complained that the BUA Sugar Company, which is located in the area, caused socio economic problems in their communities without providing proper compensation.
In videos shot by residents and obtained by SaharaReporters, Edu LGA residents, primarily farmers, were 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, had narrated how the situation affected farming, which is the major source of livelihood in the communities.
However, the BUA corporation refuted the residents' complaints, noting that all monetary agreements had been paid and the community was enjoying various social facilities provided by the company.
A BUA spokesman who requested anonymity told SaharaReporters that the company had also employed youths and women in the neighborhood as part of empowering locals and ensuring they benefitted from the project in their community.
He said, “All compensations for the land have been fully effected and it was paid based on government guidelines upon acquisition years ago. Despite this, we have not displaced anyone, farming activities are still ongoing and this is part of our containment strategies where all the indigenes who possess the lands are not displaced.
“We have constructed roads in the local government so that there is more connectedness among towns and villages within the area we occupy. We have also employed their youths and gave their women and men works in the farm areas. We have continued to engage with the community telling them the factory will bring employment to them and future children,” the BUA spokesperson said.
BUA sugar company also claimed that the road network constructed by the company aids residents in transporting their farm produce to other parts of the state and outside of the state for sale.
He continued: “. Till now if you go to that community, you will see indigenes scattered all over that land farming without disturbance, because our policy is that if we have not reached a certain area within the sugar estate, we don’t need to hinder the people from accessing it, they should continue to enjoy it.”
“This is on top of the fact that although we have fully paid for the lands which makes it ideally ours, we have been magnanimous to the community and we have been doing quite a lot of things that will forever shape and shift their way of life when fully completed,” the company added.