Farmers, researchers, scientists and civil society organizations have made a joint appeal to the Federal Government to make public the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, signed with Brazilian meat giant JBS, warning that secrecy around the deal could lead Nigeria into another resource crisis.
They maintained that while they welcome foreign investment, they are concerned about its implications on health, the environment, social economy and smallholder livelihoods.
The stakeholders in the Livestock and Agricultural sector voiced their concerns on Wednesday during a South-West regional workshop themed, “Sustainable Alternatives to Industrial Animal Farming: Pathways to a Resilient Food System in Nigeria” held in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
Recall that in 2024, the Nigeria government signed a letter of intent with Brazilian meat giant, JBS S.A, for a $2.5 billion investment in Nigeria’s livestock sector.
According to a statement by the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, President Bola Tinubu witnessed the signing ceremony on November 21, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the investment includes the construction of six new meat factories and is aimed at developing Nigeria’s meat processing sector.
Speaking at the workshop, Mr Oluwaseyi Olawuyi, Director of Consultantancy, Youths in Agroecology and Restoration Network, YARN,
insisted that the deal must undergo comprehensive and environmental, social impact assessments, with transparent public scrutiny before execution.
Olawuyi argued that without access to the MoU, it would be impossible to determine if the JBS investment protects public health, the environment, and smallholder farmers.
He described industrial animal farming as confining “thousands, like JBS, millions of animals in a particular area” for profit, stressing that while it is not bad for investors to make profit, development models must prioritise people, communities, ecosystems, and long-term sustainability rather than profit maximisation alone.
“We’ve been hearing about JBS coming to Nigeria to invest; it’s a thing of joy for us, but we just have to look at the implication that this will have on various segments. We look at the health, social economy, environment, and so on. And there’s a need for us to weigh it, look at the pros and cons.
“As Civil Society, we are not anti-development but there’s a need for government to do the needful. Let Civil Society have access to this MOU, so that we know what is there and when we get to know what is there, automatically part of this problem will be solved, and it will help us.
“And if there’s anything that we need to rectify or correct now, we can all correct it before JBS starts operating in Nigeria freely. You see what happened to our oil now. When they came, we saw it then as a blessing and now, you can see what it is due to mismanagement and some other factors, it turned out to be the opposite now.
“This is what we want to do from inception, that if JBS is coming to Nigeria, we are not saying they should not come, but let us guide them, so that what we experienced in the oil sector, will not be experienced again.
Olawuyi raised a major concern about transparency, disclosing that despite repeated requests, no one has seen the MoU.
“We reached out to the Federal Minister of Livestock, they said the MoU was domiciled with states. Then we reached out to Ogun, Niger, Cross River and some other states. They said it was domiciled with the federal government. It’s just like a puzzle,” he added.
In his address, the Director of Operations, YARN, Dare Elujulo called for a system that can withstand climate shocks, disease outbreaks and supply chain disruptions.
He said Nigerians must “see beyond meat and fish” and embrace protein sources like cowpeas, soybeans, bambara nut, indigenous poultry and mushrooms.
According to him, intensive animal-confinement systems can increase the risk of zoonotic disease transmission and outbreaks while the routine or excessive use of antibiotics in industrial livestock production may also contribute to the growing challenge of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), posing risks to both animal and human health.
In a communique issued at the end of the workshop, they demanded for the prioritisation of public investment in agroecological, community-led, climate-resilient, and diversified food systems, rather than disproportionately supporting industrial animal farming.
“In order to protect host communities, safeguard local food sovereignty, protect livelihoods, and preserve ecological health, the workshop called on relevant stakeholders to take the following actions; Public disclosure of the JBS S.A. MoU by the Federal and relevant State Governments to allow citizens, CSOs, researchers, and affected communities to scrutinise its terms and implications.
“Enforcing environmental, social, labour, animal welfare, and public health standards, alongside climate-risk assessment, proper waste management, worker safety, and fair compensation. Protecting smallholder farmers, pastoralists, indigenous communities, and communal land rights through due process, consultation, transparency, and fair compensation.Prioritizing public investment in agroecological, community-led, climate-resilient, and diversified food systems, rather than disproportionately supporting industrial animal farming” it added.
Farmers, CSOs task Nigerian govt on transparency over $2.5bn livestock deal