It is almost one year since the Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Siminalayi Fubara, stormed the abandoned Songhai Farms in Bunu and Ban Ogoi in Tai local Government Area of the state with the full compliments of his office and promised to revive the farms.
Though the visit was widely hailed by the people coming at a time when rising prices of foodstuff and fast declining purchasing power of the people were choking households, there is more to reviving the farms beyond the promise made by the governor.
The inflationary trend and economic hardship in the country was occasioned by the sudden withdrawal of subsidy on fuel and floating of the naira by the new administration of President Bola Tinubu.
Governor Fubara’s visit to Songhai Farms came after he attended a meeting of the National Economic Council in Abuja where, concerned about the worsening food crisis, President Bola Tinubu asked the governors to go back home and revive old agricultural schemes or start new ones.
Fubara promised to release the necessary funds to rehabilitate the farms and get it running again. The visit to the farm was very revealing as the entire place covering an area of about 400 hectares had been overgrown and is in a state of abandonment.
From the administrative block, the guest houses down to the farm house were in a state of dilapidation. Video clips of the governor and his team wading through bushes and forests that had taken over the farm drew commendation for him across the state. It seemed at last after more than eight years of abandonment that the farm was coming back to life again with all the benefits.
Apart from providing food and nutrition, Songhai Farms was modeled as an integrated farm that converts waste to wealth, biogas to produce electricity and cooking gas. It also used waste and droppings from animals and weed to feed fish and make fertilizer. It was designed to also to make processed foods, juices, jams, syrups and animal feed.
It also had retail shops where its produce was sold to the public and bulk buyers that came in from places as far as Aba in Abia State. The farms also had conference and lodging facilities where people could lodge and hold conferences.
An important part of the farm was also to train young people and students with interests in agriculture who will graduate and lead agro-allied teams aimed at revolutionizing food and agriculture. While in operation, the Songahi Farms created employment opportunities, business openings, research windows and training of university students and young farmers. Its location in rural communities also helped to stem migration to urban centres.
Songhai farm was conceived by the administration of Chibuike Amaechi back in 2010 after the Songhai Farms initiative of Rev. Fr. Godfrey Nzamujo based in Porto Novo in Benin Republic. It covered a land area of about 400 hectares between Bunu and Ban Ogoi. The land was originally used as the site of the School-to-Land project of the old Rivers State Government in 1984/85 when the then military governor, Fidelis Oyakhilome, launched a programme for young school leavers to embrace agriculture as they waited to secure post-secondary education.
By 2015, Songhai Farms had become a commercial success as buyers came in with truckloads to evacuate produce and products from the farm
Chief David Saana Chukwu of Ban-Ogoi told National Point how useful Songhai Farms was to the host communities and other people. He said, “The products from that area were helping so much, not only the two communities that own the place, but also the whole of the South-South. I saw people from Aba and Imo. They were coming to book crates of eggs. You hardly saw an egg to buy. They just come and pack everything.
“Talk of meat, talk of fish, and talk of everything. They were producing. In short, it helped us so much. As long as you had a little cash on you, any time you got to the office there you would get something to buy.”
Chief Jenkins Nyegere, the immediate-past Chairman of the Community Development Committee of Bunu-Tai, and member of the Council of Chiefs, told National Point that the community benefited a lot when the Farm was in operation.
He said, “It was helping us. When Songhai Farm was in session, schools, higher institutions from within and outside Rivers State came for industrial attachment, especially agriculture students. They came here, rented houses. They were studying and the community was benefiting from them.”
He said being a farming community, the people benefited from the innovations that Songhai brought to them. “There were certain things that changed the lives of the people like improved seedlings from the farm were sold to us and our farmers were educated on how to use improved varieties and how to go about their farming.
“Their products were sold to us here. We bought them and used them. As at then, you could see that food was in abundance here. Our women were encouraged to sell their cassava to the farm, which they used to make garri and other byproducts. They were doing bread from cassava.
During the heyday of the farm, 105 young Rivers indigenes gained international exposure when they underwent rigorous 18-month training in specialized agricultural and agro-based disciplines at the Songhai International Centre in Benin Republic
Some former workers at the farm from the local communities spoke fondly of the glory days of Songhai Farms. Mr. Sunday and Kiira said the presence of workers from different backgrounds that came to live in the community created spice and boosted the local economy. He said the skills and experiences they acquired while working at the Songhai farm has helped them to improve their lives.
Also, the member representing Tai State Constituency in the Rivers State House of Assembly, Mr. Bernard Ngba, said that over 100 residents were gainfully employed when the Songhai Farm was at the height of its productivity. Ngba said the current dilapidation of the farm has plunged the community into a state of despondency.
The farm was conceived to serve as an agricultural hub with the multifaceted mission to breed livestock, cultivate food crops, fisheries, forestry, engineering services, agro-industrialization and the training. On establishment it was placed under the administration of the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency.
The Songhai farm achieved considerable success, cultivating dreams and fostering growth and was still expanding when there was a change of government in Rivers state in 2025. The tenure of the initiator of the scheme, Chibuike Amaechi ended and gave way to a new administration led by Chief Nyesom Wike.
Wike did not intend to continue with some of the projects and programmes of Amaechi, especially his agricultural schemes. So, Songhai Farm was abandoned
First, the new government ordered a comprehensive review of the agreement setting up the farm. As the review went on operations of the farm slowed down. After a while, the payment of workers stopped. “This transition marked the beginning of a rather challenging chapter in the farm’s narrative. From 2015 until the present day, the Songhai farm project has, regrettably, dwindled into a mere semblance of its former self,” said Kelechi Nwosu, a journalist who wrote about the transition of the farm.
Speaking about the present state of Songhai Farms, Chief Saana Chukwu said, “You know, politics is a thing that you don’t even understand and why it is playing negative role on the people. The politics changed hands and the man that came next (Wike) could not continue that project, and it failed. That place was vandalised. Many things were removed,” he said.
Chief Nyegere also lamented the abandonment of Songhai Farm by the Wike administration, which he said gave room for the place to be vandalized. “If you get to that place now, you will see that it is a forest. None of the equipment is still there. Today there is nothing called Songhai Farm because government abandoned the farm.”
How does the host community feel about the state of the farm? Nyegere said, “The community feels bad because the project was helping us in a way. Our young school leavers were given opportunity to do some minor work here.”
Though, Chief Saana Chukwu laments the state of the farm, he alleged that the looting of the place started with the management of the farm, which began to move equipment and facilities once they saw that government was no longer funding the place. “The management started the vandalism with the security. They involved the youths from here. That was how they were able to carry out the act. This is because with the management knowing what is happening there and without the management introducing the youths there, the youths cannot go there because they had security. The security were also there.”
A visit to the farm showed a complete ruin. The main administrative area, which is near the entrance, including the main administrative block has been enveloped by bush. Inside the farm proper was a forest. One could only move with the help of cutlasses to clear the under growths that have taken over the pathways. The man crops standing are the palm trees, which are very resilient trees.
Two policemen were seen around the entrances area. They told National Point that they were deployed by the local divisional police officer in turns to keep watch over the farm. But it looked like there effort could not do much considering the vast area of the farm. So they only kept a close eye on the administrative block. One of them showed our reporter where they recently killed a python that they found around the administrative block.
It was therefore a thing of joy for not just the communities around the farm when Governor Fubara visited the farm and promised to revive the project. During the visit, Governor Fubara said government’s reinvestment in the farm would diversify the state’s economy. Governor Fubara stated that his expedition to the farm was motivated by the National Economic Council’s directive to state governments to move towards agricultural diversification as a strategic economic imperative.
The governor’s visit was commended by a cross section of stakeholders including industrialists, local communities and traders. He received an instant hype in the media and everyone looked forward to when the rehabilitation of the farm would start.
The people urged the governor to translate his promise into action. “The Rivers Songhai Farm’s rejuvenation presents a beacon of hope and a promising trajectory toward achieving vital agricultural objectives. This ambitious project carries the promise of reshaping the economic landscape and enhancing the quality of life for countless citizens in Rivers State and beyond,” Nwosu said.
It has been almost one year since the governor visited the farm and has not returned to the farm. A few days after he visited the state was plunged into a political crisis. The governor became estranged with his predecessor, who attempted to impeach him on October 30, just about three weeks after he visited the farm
Most of the commissioners including the commissioner for agriculture resigned. It took many months before Governor Fubara began to reconstitute the cabinet, while he was battling to save his job as governor. And till date nothing yet has been heard again from the government about the plans to revive the Songhai Farms.
However National Point found out that there are many issues surrounding the farm, which might need to be sorted out.
When the land for the farm was acquired in 1984 by Rivers State Government for the School-to-Land project proper acquisition of the lands from the communities was not done. Some community people told National Point that government did not pay compensation for crops on the land at the time it took over the land, and they want that settled once and for all.
Chief Nyegere said the community has been asking government to pay for the crops that were on the land before it was taken over. “It is on notice that government has not paid for the crops that were enumerated then. The community has been asking for compensation. It is regrettable that up till today, government has not paid a dime for the Songhai Farm.
“”Government is owing us. But this time around, government will pay us before they can come back. We have taken a stand. They have been paying other places. Why is our own not paid? They paid for the banana farm plantation. They acquired the land and paid compensation. But the Songhai Farms is not paid up till today and the community has decided that except compensation is paid to the community, we will not allow them to come in to operate,” Nyegere said.
Chief Saana Chukwu said apart from the issue of paying compensation for the land, the state government should enter into a memorandum of understating with the communities on employment and other issues. “It is very very important because we have graduates here who are agriculture biased. They have certificates and degrees in agriculture and should also consider us in one or two top managerial positions to represent this community.
“Government should also appoint a community liaison officer for the community so that he can be the link between the farm and the community, at least for a peaceful atmosphere to reign,” he said.
Some community members also hinted that if government could not make use of the land again, it should allow the communities resume the use of the land or hand it over to a private investor.
“There is an indigenous investor that is interested in this farm. And we asked him to wait until we finished the case in court (the communities are in court to press for compensation on the land to be paid). If government can no longer continue, then we will ask him to come in,” Saana Chukwu said.
Officials of the Ministry of Agriculture declined to speak on the state of Songhai Farms. The General Manager of Songhai Integrated Farms Project, Dr. Tammy Jaja, declined comments, when National Point sought to interview him on the state of the farm. An aide of his at the Ministry of Agriculture said Dr. Jaja was not willing to grant interviews for now.
