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Civil society organisations and other stakeholders have called on the Federal Government to make public the Memorandum of Understanding reportedly signed with Brazilian meat-processing giant JBS over its proposed $2.5bn investment in Nigeria. The groups said Nigerians should be allowed to examine the agreement before the company begins full operations, particularly because the proposed investment involves the establishment of six large-scale industrial animal-farming facilities. They made the demand at a capacity-building workshop organised by the Youth in Agroecology and Restoration Network for CSOs in the South-West in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
YARN’s Director of Consultancy, Oluwaseyi Olayemi, stressed that the organisations were not opposed to foreign investment but wanted adequate safeguards for communities, farmers and the environment. He warned that Nigeria should learn from the problems associated with the oil sector, where he said poor management and other factors prevented the country’s natural resources from delivering their expected benefits. The groups said access to the JBS agreement would allow them to examine provisions relating to environmental protection, public health, community rights and other potential risks before the project becomes fully operational.
The stakeholders also raised concerns about possible land-use conflicts, displacement of communities, waste generation, groundwater contamination, air pollution, biodiversity loss, greenhouse-gas emissions and antimicrobial resistance linked to large-scale industrial livestock production. They urged the Federal and relevant state governments to publicly release the JBS MoU and conduct independent, comprehensive Environmental and Social Impact Assessments before approving the projects. The CSOs further called for stronger enforcement of Nigeria’s environmental and agricultural regulations, while advocating for agroecology, regenerative agriculture and farmer-led food systems to protect smallholder farmers and host communities.
