Farmers living on a plantation in Ulonna, Abia State are aghast at the thought of suddenly losing their farmlands and livelihoods in a location they have known as home for half a century.
They insist the property is theirs, having paid back a £2,500 loan the Eastern Region government gave them in 1963. But the Abia State government, in whose territory the settlement falls after the Eastern Region was split into states, contradicts the claim. It wants to sell the land to a private investor to generate more revenue.
Special Correspondent, Igbeaku Orji, investigates a dispute Michael Okpara, former Premier of the defunct Eastern Region, did not envisage when he established the plantation to boost agriculture in the First Republic.
Michael Okpara
The serenity in Ulonna South farm settlement is being ruffled by the decision of the Abia State government to sell it off to a private investor. But the inhabitants, most of whom are second generation settlers, have vowed to fight, albeit legally, to keep their inheritance.
Ulonna is derived from the first letters of the names of six communities – Umuobiala, Lodu, Ofeme, Nunya, Nkpa and Afugiri – whose lands were acquired by the Eastern Region government for the plantation in 1963.
It is a community of farmers in two locations, Ulonna North and South.
They are in three councils – Bende, Isuikwuato and Umuahia North – of Abia State.
Occupancy dates back half a century
After 51 years, the state government has decided to sell the settlement to a private investor, as it has done with other palm and rubber plantations. This does not go down well with the settlers who claim they own the settlement and have nowhere else to go.
The second generation and some of the founding settlers said they have lost their inheritance in their native land because the estate was given to them on loan which they have paid back.
They have lived in fear, anxiety and uncertainty since the government made its intention known.
A second generation settler, Iheanaetu Ndudinachukwu, 35, Chairman of the Ulonna South Farm Settlers, narrated the story his father told him: “The farm settlement was established in 1963 and the government took all the necessary due process required to acquire the land and develop an estate.
“We have the survey plan, we have the map, we have the white paper and every other agreement.
“Thereafter, the government announced that the requirement for the new settlers, those who are able to work, must possess at least standard six certificate. None is an illiterate.
Settlers’ £2,500 loan repayment
“They are people who have worked either in government or private establishments. After the training, the government agreed to give them the farm settlement on a loan of £2,500.
“The loan covers the yard, the buildings, the environment, the arable plantation, the palm plantation and the rubber plantation.
“Our fathers finally paid up the loan and the government gave them the certificate of ownership/full payment, according to my father. I was not born at that time.”
During the war, because of frustration and hunger, some of the settlers died and others ran away and did not return. After the war, the government invited other people to replace those who died or ran away.
Protest against sale of plantation to Friel Abia
The settlers found out that in 2009 the government sold all palm plantations to a company, Friel Abia, including Ukwa and Ohambele.
“We wrote letters asking the government why it sold off what does not belong to it. The government has the right to acquire any land but in the case of this place, it has already acquired it and we have paid for it.
“So, if the government wants to take this place it should inform us. Then it should find another place, develop it for us, plant the palm and relocate us.
“I have no other place to live. I am the sixth child of my parents. My brothers and sisters have no other place to go. We have always known the farm settlement as our place,” Ndudinachukwu stressed.
He said the settlers sought redress in court against Friel Abia and the state government. The reason for going to court was for the government to “clarify our position in the whole affair, because we are confused, we don’t know what to do.”
They also wrote letters to the government to make their position known.
He alleged that while they were waiting for a response, an official of the Ministry of Agriculture, Henry Nwachukwu, invaded the settlement on March 26 at about 7.30am with ‘Bakasi Boys’ to cart away harvested palm fruits from every compound.
Emma Okparaocha, 87, is the Chairman of Elders in Council Committee of the settlement. He is one of the surviving original settlers and has lived in the settlement since inception in 1963. It was there he raised all his children who also know the place as their home.
He recounted that the problem started when the state government said it wanted to make the settlement more productive and profitable.
“We didn’t know it was a ploy to dispossess us,” Okparaocha said.
“When Michael Okpara established the farm settlement the intention was to reduce unemployment. And that is what is happening here. People from various locations are here.
“We have palm harvesters and from there they pay tax, train their children in school. Widows come here, some without a hoe or machete.
“A good spirited individual here will lend them tools to work with and from there they make money and begin life again. That, as Okpara told us, was the reason for establishing the plantation.”
Okparaocha corroborated the loan story.
“From the outset we were living here on loan. We have repaid the loan the government gave us. In 1963 whatever the government did for us was on loan and everything about that loan that covers the houses, the arable land, we have repaid all.
“The person we paid the last part of the loan for the government was Akanwa as Commissioner for Agriculture.
“I went for a medical examination and did police clearance in 1963 before the government allowed me entry into this place. Now they want to drive me away; where will I go?”
Ndudinachukwu said Governor Theodore Orji is aware of the plan to sell the plantaintion.
Abia dismisses settlers’ claim
But Agriculture Commissioner, Kenneth Nwosu, told ThNiche that Nwachukwu, the man accused of raiding the plantaintion, is the Field Officer of the ministry who is doing his legitimate duty.
Nwosu said there is no going back on the sale of the settlement. He disclosed that the State Executive Council had approved that an investor be brought in to manage government palm and rubber estates, including Ulonna South.
He pledged that the settlers will not be driven away from the plantation, but stressed that the government must look for revenue to meet its obligations.
Nwosu insisted that the estate belongs to the government, contrary to the claim of the settlers that they acquired it after paying back the loan.
According to him, the settlement was acquired by the Eastern Region government which also built the houses and gave it out to the settlers as farm labourers.
He wondered why they should claim to be the owners of government property.
Government’s drive for more revenue
Said Nwosu: “Apart from Ulonna North and Ulonna South oil palm estate, the government has Ukwa estate, Ozuitem palm estate and Ukwa Nkporo.
“There are four oil palm estates owned by the government. They were planted long before now by the Michael Okpara regime and they formed part of our revenue base in the former Eastern Nigeria, just like we have the rubber estates.
“We also have cocoa estate planted by the government, like the one at Agbozu, Uzuakoli.
“The government, with time, didn’t show interest in those estates. Because of the advent of oil, emphasis shifted from agricultural estates to oil revenue. So these people who are staying there as settlers now encroached on those estates.
“They said since the government is not interested in this estate, let’s continue to harvest, let’s continue to poach.
“Government revenue is going down. The emphasis in every government, both federal and state, is internally generated revenue. The government is beginning to look inwards.
“The government has leased out the rubber estates at Ndioji Abam and the cocoa estate at Agbozu, Uzuakoli. The government is in the process of leasing out the oil palm estates – four of them – Ohambele, Ulonna North, Ulonna South and Ozuitem.”
Squatters and rent collectors
Nwosu said the settlers have private farms, oil palms, rubber plantations and cassava farms; but instead of limiting their operations to the ones allocated to them they have moved into government estate over the years.
“Remember that the settlement was established by the Eastern Region government of Michael Okpara, so the occupants are drawn from all over the former Eastern Region.
“Now the government of Theodore Orji has given approval to revamp that place; but to revamp it is not through the government. The government has no business in business.
“The government is going through an investor who will put his money in those estates, rehabilitate them, clear the place, prune the palms, plant new ones, establish an oil mill.
“By doing that the state can create jobs for people, the estate can have good access roads, and high quality palm oil that can stand the test of time. Agriculture has to change the face of our economy, we have to employ people, but we cannot employ people under the condition we find the estate now.”
Nwosu alleged that the settlers collude with people outside the settlement who claim to own parts of the estate to lease the estate to collect money and walk away.
“This must stop,” he said.