The National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) and the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and IDPs (NCFRMI), on Wednesday, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to address pressing challenges faced by refugees, migrants and Internally Displaced Persons.
The partnership is to establish the Renewed Hope Restoration Project (REHORP), aimed at creating cluster farms to be cultivated by profiled IDPs as part of the commission’s solutions strategy for economic reliability, poverty alleviation, financial empowerment and livelihood restoration for internally displaced persons across Nigeria.
Delivering a keynote speech at the MoU signing, Cornelius Adebayo, executive secretary and chief executive officer of NALDA, said the renewed hope restoration project would offer vocational training in modern farming techniques, provide access to land, inputs financing, equipment, infrastructural development as well as facilitate market linkages and technical support, contributing to overall food security in line with President Bola Tinubu’s agenda.
Adebayo noted that Nigeria housed a significant population of vulnerable individuals, including refugees, asylum seekers, and IDPs.
He said the project would empower IDPs and refugees by transforming challenges into opportunities and fostering growth, prosperity, and hope.
“It will also integrate refugees, migrants, and IDPs into the agricultural value chain, allowing them to contribute to the nation’s food security while also achieving economic independence.
“This initiative would not have been possible without policy coordination and cooperation among agencies as directed by Mr. President,” Adebayo added.
He however emphasised that the success of the project will depend on the commitment of government stakeholders, local authorities, non-governmental organisations, community leaders, and the beneficiaries involved.
He therefore urged all stakeholders to ensure that the project not only succeeds but leaves a lasting impact.
On his part, Tijjani Ahmed, federal commissioner and chief executive officer of NCFRMI, expressed excitement, saying that the MoU signing marks a historic milestone for both NALDA and NCFRMI as it plants a seed of hope, resilience, prosperity, and a new dawn for Nigeria’s most vulnerable groups.
He recalled that on 27 July 2024, the commission in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS), flagged off the Renewed Hope Agricultural Empowerment project for Internally Displaced Persons (REHAEPI) where a total of 500 hectares of land was cultivated by 1000 IDPs and refugee farmers in Loko, Nasarawa State, Kwal, Plateau State and Jereh in Maiduguri-Borno State respectively. “Without fear of sounding immodest, we make bold to unequivocally say that the partnership was a huge success.
“Just last week, the Commission with the support of the Honorable ministers of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction was at Maiduguri and Jos respectively to flag off the bumper harvest of the project.”
Ahmed said the number of Nigerian refugees totalled over 100,000, with about 35,000 in Cameroon and several thousand in Niger, among others.
The commissioner said when the idea of the partnership was first conceptualised, the commission saw it as an avenue to deliver on its mandate of providing succour for IDPs and other persons of concern in Nigeria.
He said: “With this partnership, we are on the verge of making history as well as expanding our horizon to cover more States in the country.
“With NALDA responsible for the development and provision of arable land for farming and NCFRMI with a population of about 6.4 million Internally Displaced Persons ready to be engaged in agricultural activities, we are confident that this collaboration will be mutually beneficial and the much-awaited agricultural revolution is about to be birthed with the sign off of this MoU.”
He further stressed that agriculture remained the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy with a contribution of over 65% of the nation’s GDP, adding that when the programme fully commenced, the era of giving handouts and starter packs to IDPs would become unfashionable.
In a bid to teach a man how to catch fish rather than give him fish, Ahmed said with this initiative, implementation was already ongoing for the National Action Plan on Durable Solutions ahead of its launch in the coming months.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, the about-to-be-consummated partnership is at the instance of millions of displaced men, women and children who have been traumatised and affected by one driving factor of displacement or another, ranging from armed banditry, Boko Haram insurgency, communal mayhem, farmer-herder clash, tribal and religious clashes and climate change. This initiative will provide an opportunity to rebuild their lives and to become active contributors to Nigeria’s growth,” he said.
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