Posted on 01/12/2004 6:52:00 AM PST by Clive
NIGERIA, one of Harare's main backers, has joined the rising number of African countries trying to lure Zimbabwean white commercial farmers who were thrown out of their land, an investigation by The Standard has revealed.
After purportedly supporting President Robert Mugabe as he kicked out productive white commercial farmers from Zimbabwe to make way for landless blacks, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo now wants those very same farmers to settle in the populous West African country and develop what is dubbed a "large scale integrated farming" project.
The Nigerian move comes at a time when some Southern African states, daylight supporters of Mugabe such as Zambia and Mozambique, are also busy cobbling up all sorts of packages to attract the embattled farmers into their countries and revive commercial farming.
Investigations by The Standard reveal that Nigeria, the oil rich country, whose President Obasanjo defended Mugabe's action in spite of international condemnation of the chaos that prevailed on local farms following the invasion of properties from 1999, has also joined the list of countries lining up for the services of the highly regarded Zimbabwean white farmers.
Hardly two months after Obasanjo snubbed Mugabe at last year's Commonwealth Heads of Government summit held in Abuja, Nigeria, he now intends to develop a prime farming project making use of the Zimbabwean farmers whose skills are well respected internationally.
Yesterday a senior Nigerian High Commission official, Emmanuel Egwuafu, confirmed to The Standard that his country was interested in Zimbabwean farmers.
"A team of Zimbabwean farmers first went to Nigeria during the Commonwealth Heads of Government (Chogm) meeting in Abuja last year where they met representatives of certain states. Kwara State in particular is interested in former Zimbabwean commercial farmers," said Egwuafu.
"But I am sure you will also appreciate that Nigeria is a federal government and that other states are somehow autonomous and independent to make decisions of their own," said Egwuafu adding that Nigeria was also interested in Zimbabwean mining and horticultural investors.
According to a respected Nigerian newspaper This Day, Obasanjo's government might soon give approval to fleeing farmers from Zimbabwe to invest in Nigeria.
The Standard understands that Kwara State Governor Bukola Saraki, first approached the fleeing former commercial farmers after which the Nigerian federal government took over the initiative.
Already a special government committee headed by Nigerian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Malam Adamu Bello, has been set up to work out the modalities "on Southern African farmers and investment opportunities in Nigeria".
Hundreds of Zimbabwean white commercial farmers have resettled in Zambia, Mozambique and the Chad from the often-violent land seizures of their properties in Zimbabwe led by government supporters.
With a monicker like "bereanway", you already know what the only hope for Africa is.
There are many African Christians (true believers, not "cultural Christians"), who are fighting the good fight.
They need our prayers.
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