By Ogbebor Tony Ikponmwosa
The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki has stated that the goal of the Edo State Oil Palm Programme (ESOPP) is to ensure that oil palm is produced sustainably in the State while guaranteeing that the rights of people especially of the host communities are respected as well as ensuring that their livelihoods are sustained.
Governor Obaseki made the statement while speaking at the launch of the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Community Engagements and Outreach Programme held in Benin City, Edo State. The four days programme which was targeted at training concessioners and stakeholders in the oil palm sector on the RSPO principles and criteria, had representatives from ESOPP Investors Group, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and other investors in the oil palm sector in attendance.
The Governor represented by the Commissioner of Agriculture and Food Security, Hon. Stephen Idehenre, said that the State has set the pace in oil palm investment and development in Nigeria through the creation of ESOPP. In his words, “we are changing the narratives through ESOPP’s Protect, Produce and Rehabilitate (P P R) approach which portend that as our investors are producing oil palm, they are mandated to reforest ten percent of their cultivable
areas and conserve their High Conservation Values and High Carbon Stock (HCV/HCS) designation approach to safeguard forests and biodiversity in line with RSPO standards”.
Governor Obaseki noted that Edo is the only State in Nigeria which is a partner of TFA and have gone forward to subsequently develop Principles and Actions under the TFA Africa Palm Oil Initiative (APOI) in 2018.
According to him, “project communities under ESOPP are engaged using the FPIC guidelines co-developed by Proforest which will be passed into law as a subsidiary regulation under the Edo State Investment Promotion Law”.
While thanking the RSPO organization for their crucial outreach and engagements in the State, Mr. Governor reassured them of his continuous support and collaboration. The Senior Manager for Global Community Outreach and Engagements for RSPO, Mr. Imam El Marzuq, said the event was targeted to proffer and extend the knowledge of RSPO key elements, operational system, and benefits of the sustainable palm oil production to Stakeholders in the State and the Country at large.
While lauding the cooperation of all stakeholders present and their positive impacts, Mr. Imam Commended ESOPP for leveraging on responsible investment as a means of achieving sustainable development, noting that RSPO principles and criteria are key in production of sustainable commodity and palm oil. The acting Team Lead for ESOPP submitted that the State is the shining star in the oil palm sector in Nigeria, as a result of the reforms in the oil palm sub-sector by the Governor.
He said, “As we speak 70,000 hectares of degraded part of the forest reserves have been allocated to 11 oil palm investors under ESOPP, who are mandated to comply with the RSPO standards for the development of their
various concessions.
“The RSPO Community Engagement and Community Outreach Programme is borne out of the Governor’s request for capacity building for stakeholders in the sector. The training will be cascaded down to members of the communities as time goes on. I want to use this medium to urge everyone particularly people in project communities, to take advantage of the training”.
The Managing Consultant, Foremost Development Services (FDS), Alhaji Fatai Afolabi, said that the State is blazing the trail in the production of sustainable palm oil. He argued that for palm oil to be sustainably produced, all stakeholders in the production system need to be well-informed about the requirements and standards involved in production of sustainable palm oil.
Alhaji Fatai revealed that FDS which is the intermediary Organization for the RSPO community engagements and outreach programme will be escalating the RSPO training and that FDS will be engaging all the categories of Stakeholders using different modules for a period of twenty months.
