Uction has been ccupation of the i-Oni since 1896
Also, there are many northerners in Eti-Oni who specialize in the buying and selling of oranges. Awal Muhammadu told Daily Trust that he usually buys orange trees and brings his workers to pluck the oranges for him, and then he would take the oranges to Lagos for sale. He said the community was peaceful and he enjoys good relations with different people from different parts of the country that live in Eti-Oni.
The traditional ruler of this ancient community, the Oloni of Eti-Oni, Oba Dokun Thompson is not oblivious of the challenges facing his town and the reason the community was impoverished. Apparently, he has solutions to liberate his people. He said cocoa production has been the major occupation of the people of Eti-Oni since 1896, claiming that cocoa cultivation started from their community before its spread to other towns in Nigeria’s South West. Oba Thompson attracted top personalities and tourists to Eti-Oni recently when the community celebrated 120 years of cocoa production with merriment.
Oloni used the occasion to unveil the Eti-Oni Development Group (EDG), his initiative to facilitate the development of the ancient community.
These efforts have also gained the attention of the state government and the state governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola has pledged to give total supports to Oba Thompson to succeed in the development of Eti-Oni. The grading of the road leading to the community by the state government was part of the commitment of the administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola to develop Eti-Oni, so that the area would be able to contribute effectively to the economy of the state.
Speaking at the Farmer Field School held at EtiOni in which experts from the Osun State Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security were taken to the cocoa farms to train the cocoa farmers on the best way to cultivate, harvest and market their cocoa, Aregbesola said his administration was committed to ensure the welfare of farmers by providing social amenities in the rural areas across the state, saying that the cocoa festival would assist in charting a new course for cocoa production.
Aregbesola who was represented by the Director General in the Office of Economic Development and Partnership, (OEDP), Dr Charles Diji Akinola commended the traditional ruler of Eti-Oni, the Oloni of Eti-Oni, Oba Dokun Thompson for initiating the cocoa festival. He said the festival has provided a veritable platform for bringing stakeholders in the cocoa business together to share ideas on cocoa production and other aspects of agribusiness, as a way out of the current economic recession. Aregbesola urged other traditional rulers in the state to take a leaf from the Oloni of Eti-Oni, by coming up with initiatives that would promote the agricultural potentials in their domains.
The Chief Executive Officer of the EDG, Adaeze Udo Ekwueme, stated that “the EDG was born out of the need to transform Eti-Oni from its present-day state into its real potential. The EDG is a group of people, companies, education institutions, and even countries from all over the world, who are committed to the development and transformation of Eti-Oni community, following the passionate move by Oba Dokun Thompson to see that the community achieves its true potential as Nigeria’s birthplace of cocoa. This is in line with the theme of the recently concluded cocoa festival – peace, love and development.”
She explained that the idea of development of EtiOni would not just be about copying popular ideas of what is expected of a developed community. According to her “the idea is to develop Eti-Oni into a sustainable town, while still embracing our African identity. We are developing in line with the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The people of Eti-Oni have been farming for four generations. There will be development programmes and we will also focus on ways to add value to the lives of the people.”
“There are plans to establish a cocoa processing plant, and production of premium chocolate products. We will also address the issue of gender equality, which is part of the UN’s 2030 SDGs. Around fifty per cent of farmers in EtiOni are women. However, we discovered that when there are training programmes for farmers, only men show up owing to people’s perception of farmers are men. Luckily we have the support of the Osun State government which has set up a farmers’ training school which the women, with our encouragement participated actively. We will keep encouraging women to embrace such opportunities.”
Citing the approach regarding plans to transform the community, Ekwueme stated that creativity, innovation and practicability will come into play.
“The community is at an advantage because there are more innovative ways available to transform society, especially as it relates to technology. A lot of people in Eti-Oni are unbanked and don’t have valid means of identification. We are teaming up with a company in San Francisco and the Oxford University in UK to offer identity checks for residents and onboard them digitally, that is, make digital identification available for them to access financial institutions, health care and quality education. This will also help to gather data for developing the community which we can make available as a model template for other communities to replicate,” she stated.
While commenting on government’s support for the development of EtiOni, which she described as commendable, especially with the recently graded access road which led into the community and which was done very recently, Ekwueme stated “the government has been very supportive for several years. There was no access road into Eti-Oni prior to the cocoa festival. However, for the first time, people were able to drive in because the road has been graded. We also expect that the government will continue the good work by also tarring the road, and supporting the community with other development initiatives. The Osun State government understands that by helping the people, they are also helping government. We want to make it a smart town.”