admin | February 9, 2015
Thousands of small-scale farmers in northeastern Nigeria may be evicted from their ancestral lands in a major land grab, according to a report released by local NGOs.
Mariann Bassey Orovwuje is a spokeswoman for the NGO, Friends of the Earth Nigeria. She says that U.S.-owned Dominion Farms is planning a new 30,000-hectare rice plantation, which will displace up to 40,000 people in Taraba State.
Ms. Orovwuje says: “The people living on this land didn’t even know the deal was happening. Compensation is not coming; the people were never asked and never told. Eventually, they will all be forced off the land.”
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Photo caption and credit: Farmer Hadanina Ajesko returns from harvesting groundnuts in northeastern Nigeria on October 1, 2007. REUTERS/Estelle Shirbon