By O'Seun Ogunsakin
Though Nigeria is blessed with fertile and cultivable land, climate change, insecurity and lack of road infrastructure have been responsible for the country’s skyrocketing food prices. In Ekiti State, Governor Biodun Oyebanji decided to change the narratives by taking the decisive step of increasing funding for the agriculture sector. Oyebanji had in October 2024 disclosed intention to tailor the 2025 Appropriation towards enhancing food security. He walked his talk by increasing funding for Agriculture and Food Security from ₦4.1bn in 2024 to ₦23.6bn in 2025, amounting to a whopping 475% increase.
This was done with the aim of strengthening food production, supporting farmers, and reducing dependency on food imports.
One of the several strategies deployed by the Oyebanji-led administration to tackle food shortage in Ekiti State is the provision of rural access. Scholars in the field of agriculture have identified poor road networks as a major bane to food security in Nigeria. Farmers in rural communities find it difficult to transport their goods to urban markets, and most times, these goods perished within a few days, causing post-harvest losses to farmers. And at times when they managed to get their goods to nearby markets after trekking several kilometres, they ended up selling their goods at give-away prices.
Ekiti State Government under Oyebanji’s watch then decided to continue its quest to participate in the World Bank co-sponsored Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project, following an earlier letter of intention submitted to the Bank in 2018 during the tenure of Dr Kayode Fayemi. Interestingly, that letter was signed on behalf of Ekiti State Government by Biodun Oyebanji who then was the Secretary to the State Government. Little wonder then that Oyebanji upon assumption of office chose to passionately pursue participation in the RAAMP initiative as part of the goodies of the continuity agenda.
In July 2024, Ekiti RAAMP, under the supervision of Hon. Sunday Adunmo who is the Project Coordinator, awarded 13 roads. The roads are Enu Odi-Ita Eku-Igirigiri road, Omisanjana-Oke Aso road, Are-Oye road, Ise-Imola road, Afolu-Odofin road, Owode-Anaye road, Erinmope-Irare-Ikosu road, Iye-Isapa-Olopomeji-Ikun road, and Ara-Ekameta school road. Others are Igbole-Osi-Iropora road, FMS Farm-Oke Ako road, Ilupeju-Egan-Ayede road, Ikogosi-Aba Osun-Aba Oriokuta-Ikogosi road. These were followed by the award of five other roads in two phases: Ijero-Epe-Araromi-Iropora road, Ikole-Isaba-Ikoyi-Igbemo road, Ido-Ipere-Iludun road, Abekoko-Ijarigbin road and Agbado-Ejisun-Ipole-Ise road. These bring the total number of rural roads initiated by the Oyebanji-led government through RAAMP to 18.
As at October 2025, two roads have been completed; asphalting is ongoing in eight of the roads, while six others gearing up for the same exercise. While Ikole-Isaba-Ikoyi-Igbemo road and Owode-Anaye road have been completed, asphalting is ongoing on Ijero-Epe-Araromi-Iropora road, Ido-Ipere-Iludun road, Ikogosi-Aba Osun-Aba oriokuta road and Ilupeju-Egan-Ayede road. Others are Enu Odi-Ita Eku-Igirigiri road, Omisanjana-Ben Folarin-Oke Aso road, Ara-Ekameta and Erinmope-Irare-Ikosun road.
Asphalting of Ikole-Isaba-Ikoyi-Igbemo road which is 20km long was completed in June 2025. It is now at 100% completed. Awarded in November 2024, the road links Igbemo Ekiti, the community renowned for the production of popular Igbemo rice, to Ikole Ekiti, a town in the northern part of the State famous for the cultivation of yam and cassava. In order to provide more rural access, Oyebanji equally awarded the construction of Isinbode-Ara-Ikole road which connects RAAMP’s Ikole-Isaba-Ikoyi-Igbemo road. Residents of the benefiting communities acknowledged the significance of the road to their means of livelihood.
Aside the reduction in travel time, the construction of the road has reduced the cost of transportation which invariably makes farm produce much affordable for people, since the cost of transportation usually affects the cost price of goods. There are also no worries about damages requiring repairs on the vehicles. This means that commercial drivers would have no need to add the cost of repairing their vehicles to the fare. It was in this light that a few months ago, a private agriculture firm, MAO Farm, decided to sell Garri at the rate of #500 when it was sold at #1000 in the market. The firm had claimed that Oyebanji’s construction of Owode -Anaye road in Emure local government area of the State where their farm is located had facilitated good road network for them; reducing the cost of maintaining their vehicles which usually broke down before the construction of the aforementioned road. MAO Farm is not the only agri-business which is benefiting from Oyebanji’s provision of agricultural infrastructure through RAAMP. FMS Farm, a multi-billion naira integrated commercial agri-business, located in Oke Ako in Ikole local government area of Ekiti State, is another major beneficiary of the RAAMP initiative in Ekiti State. The 3.2km road which would soon be asphalted is a major boost for agricultural production in the farm which manages over 3,000 hectares of cassava and vegetable farms.
Aside the agricultural benefits which the construction of Ikole-Isaba-Ikoyi-Igbemo road has brought, it is interesting to note that the gesture has birthed at least three new markets along the road corridor. One of these markets is Arowona market in Ikoyi Ile. The market had gone into extinction as a result of bad road which discouraged farmers and farm produce traders from patronizing the market. Residents of Ikoyi Ile had, in June, issued a press statement published in one of the national dailies, to acknowledge the great impact of constructing the road on economic activities in the community. In the same community, a primary school, Community Primary School, Ikoyi also got its fair share of the benefits of the new road. The school had in the past experienced low enrollment and had just one teacher who doubled as the Head teacher for several years. Reports from the community indicated that no teacher was ready to work in the school for lack of road. Today, the school now boasts of seven teachers and enrollment has increased from 23 pupils to over 120 pupils.
Ido-Ipere-Iludun road is another major success recorded by the Oyebanji-led administration. The road which was originally awarded for construction in 2008 but was nowhere near success as the contractor abandoned the project before its re-award by the succeeding administration. The re-award was promising but it was short-lived; the road was also abandoned. Governor Oyebanji, perhaps driven by the passion to revamp the agriculture sector, swung into action by instructing RAAMP to take over the construction of the road. The road was awarded in April 2025 and by August, the contractor had asphalted 5km stretch of the 15.1km road. The road is strategic for two reasons. One, it is the only road that connects Ido/Osi local government to Ilejemeje local government. This means that the deplorable state of the road had deprived the people of the two local government areas from enjoying seamless road transport system. Anybody in Ido Ekiti who had something to do in Iludun Ekiti, for instance, would have to go through either Otun Ekiti or Oye Ekiti in order to connect Iludun Ekiti. The ongoing construction has now enabled rural connectivity. Two, there are at least 15 farm settlements along the road corridor. The farmers had experienced frustration on the bad state of the road, particularly the damaged Ero bridge that connects Ido and Ipere Ekiti.
With 132km road currently under construction and 450km in the pipeline, the agriculture sector in Ekiti State is certain to experience unprecedented road infrastructure breakthroughs that will boost food production. In preparation for the bumper harvests that will come with these huge construction works, Governor Oyebanji has launched two important agricultural product supply agencies – Ounje Ekiti Retail Outlet and the Ilu Eye Aggregation Hub in Ado-Ekiti. These are in tandem with his administration’s vision to ensure year-round availability and affordability of food items to residents through a structured food distribution chain. Already, the introduction of Ounje Ekiti Retail Outlet has greatly impacted on the price of food commodities. For example, at Agric Olope market where a retail shop is located, a rubber of garri is sold for #400, compelling traders who were earlier selling at the rate of #700 to cut down their prices to #450 and #500. Invariably, this has caused price regulation, preventing traders from selling goods at exorbitant prices. There are indications that the price would fall further to #350 in a couple of weeks.
Oyebanji had, last year, during an interface with journalists in the State, disclosed his vision of taking over the food market in Lagos State which is valued at over #500 Billion. Taking a huge chunk of this would change the fortune of Ekiti State and turn the State completely from being a Civil Service State to a truly agri-business hub. When the various RAAMP roads are completed, Ekiti will not just become the food basket of the Southwest but also the food hub of Nigeria.
Kudos to Governor Biodun Oyebanji for being passionate about the agriculture sector. He is truly leveraging on the area where Ekiti enjoys comparative advantage over other States. Thanks to the World Bank, our donor partner for believing in the capacity of Ekiti State to become the food hub of Nigeria.
•O’Seun Ogunsakin is the Development Communication Officer of Ekiti State Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP)
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