SMEDAN seeks monarchs’ support to boost food production, rural businesses
By Boye Oyeyemi
The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria has urged traditional rulers across the country to partner with government agencies in boosting food production, developing rural businesses and creating wealth.
The Director-General of SMEDAN, Charles Odii, made the call while delivering the keynote address at the 2026 Ulefunta Annual Lecture held at the Obafemi Awolowo Auditorium of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State.
The lecture, organised as part of the Ulefunta Festival, was themed, “Food Security, Wealth Creation and National Development: Building Strategic Partnerships between Traditional Institutions and Intervention Agencies.”
Odii said government interventions in rural communities would yield greater results if traditional rulers and community leaders were involved in their planning and execution, noting that they could provide local knowledge, mobilise residents and facilitate access to land.
He said, “We cannot sit in Abuja and make policies for the rural economy. For these policies to work, we must first involve community owners, leaders and stakeholders in the design, ensure transparency, measure impact, drive inclusion and guarantee sustainability.”
The SMEDAN boss identified community enterprise mapping, skills development, agricultural value chains, youth and women-focused businesses, market access and monitoring of beneficiaries as key areas for collaboration with traditional institutions. He added that the agency’s Community Enterprise Development Programme would train rural entrepreneurs and establish local economic clusters.
Additionally, the Deji and Paramount Ruler of Akure, Oba Aladetoyinbo Aladelusi, pledged the support of traditional rulers for initiatives aimed at increasing agricultural production, saying monarchs could assist in providing large parcels of land for commercial farming, cassava processing and other food-related businesses.
Similarly, the Vice-Chancellor of FUTA, Prof. Adenike Oladiji, said the university was contributing to food security through its greenhouse farm, poultry facility and oil-palm, coconut and cocoa plantations, while its entrepreneurship courses were designed to promote self-reliance among students.
