The drill monkey is found in Cross River National Park, a likely target for the new investment
A corporation led by Africa’s richest man, which is already
involved in the alleged illegal conversion of some of Nigeria’s few remaining
areas of dense natural forest, has announced plans
for a huge expansion of agricultural plantations in the country.
Secretive billionaire Aliko Dangote intends to invest nearly
$5 billion in expanding oil palm, soy and sugarcane production in Nigeria, his
firm’s executive director said on 12 July. The initial investments alone are
expected to require more than 5500 square kilometres of land.
It is unclear how the company will be able to find an area
more than three times the size of Greater London in one of Africa’s most
densely populated countries without threatening Nigeria’s remaining natural
forests. Only a limited area of southern Nigeria has a climate suitable for
growing palm oil and sugarcane, and this is also the most densely settled part
of the country. What unpopulated land does exist is mostly forested. It is very
likely that much of the new investment will be targeted at Nigeria’s Cross
River State, on the Cameroonian border. Cross River has retained more of its
dense forest than any other state in Nigeria. Unfortunately, it is also one of
Nigeria’s “premier
agricultural investment destinations”.
Dangote’s companies already
own some 15,000 hectares of ‘greenfield’ land in Cross River State,
which they are developing into oil palm and pineapple plantations. Large
swathes of this land overlap with the Cross River National Park, allegedly having
been issued to the company by the authorities in breach of regulations. The
Park encompasses one of the oldest rainforests in Africa, and is home to a
range of endangered species including gorillas and chimpanzees. The
9000-hectare oil palm license issued to Dangote subsidiary Dansa Agro-Allied
overlaps completely with the National Park (see image). Satellite images show it
is made up entirely of virgin, closed-canopy tropical forest. As of 2013 the
company was intending to convert
the whole area by the end of 2018, though analysis of recent satellite
images by Earthsight reveals activity has yet to start. Clearance has begun in
the neighbouring pineapple plantation, however.
Dangote’s oil palm and pineapple plantations in Cross River National Park. Credit: The Politics of the Forest Frontier: Negotiating Between Conservation, Development, and Indigenous Rights In Cross River State, Nigeria
The allegedly illegal allocations of land to various
companies in protected forest reserves and parks in Cross River State have
attracted international attention for the involvement of global palm
giant Wilmar.
Dangote’s investments are arguably a greater threat, but have gone largely
under the radar. In the Wilmar case, in addition to the overlap with protected
forests, NGOs allege that
the company failed to carry out adequate environmental impact surveys or secure
the free, prior and informed consent of local forest-dependent communities.
The Dangote Group is already a major consumer of palm oil
but has been pushing for some years to move upstream, including in Cross River.
It has previously handed
out thousands of palm oil seedlings and announced plans to construct a $200
million refinery in the state. Dangote is a controversial figure, who has
been linked
repeatedly with the use of offshore jurisdictions and banks. A
leaked State
Department cable alleged that he built his wealth through working with
politicians to obtain exclusive rights over imports of sugar, cement and rice,
something he flatly denies. Dangote is a major source
of funding for the right-wing People’s Democratic Party, which ruled
the country until 2015 and was in power when permits were granted to Dangote to
develop oil palm and pineapple plantations in Cross River National Park.
