The SARD Initiative - People Shaping Their Sustainable Futures

Dr Arigbede’s profile
Dr. Makanjuola Olaseinde Arigbede, 2005 National Coordinator Union of Small and Medium Scale Farmers of Nigeria (USMEFAN), medical doctor, member of the 2004 Nigeria Poverty Eradication Forum (PERFORM), and advocate of an Alternative Peoples’ Globalisation Programme.

• National Coordinator of the Coalition for Popular Development Initiatives (COPODIN) in Nigeria
• Arrested and tortured in the clashes between the Nigerian state and its citizens after the disputed 1963 elections, experience that he described in the book “The Man Died”
• Straightforward speaker advocate of human rights and self-determination of peoples and nations. Expert on the realities of poverty in Africa, believes firmly that one day the real people of Nigeria would be participants in their own history.
• Critic of the global economic order and liberalism and of the interference of the IMF and the WB on the social and economic policies of Nigeria and of other countries. Some of the policies he fights against are: the removal of subsidies; the biased terms of trade against the developing world; the increased dependence on imports to meet Nigeria’s food needs; the developing countries’ international migration policies that allow free movement only to the high-skilled workers thus worsening brain drain.
• Critical of the governance of globalisation and free market, proposed the Alternative Peoples' Globalisation Programme to stress the importance to of the needs of small farmers and to design strategies that are more consistent with these needs on a world scale, promoting through civil society stimulation and action:
* self-reliant, micro-livelihood supporting initiatives of the people;
* people-to-people solidarity;
* hope-renewal for the Youth of the world;
* stimulation-through-learning experiences and exchanges among peoples;
* justice, fairness and equity among peoples of the world irrespective of race, creed, age, physical status, or sex;
* humaneness and sustainability rather than mere profit maximisation;
* and celebrating variety and 'difference' rather than discrimination and exclusiveness.
• Believes in people’s mobilisation through social movements and the use of militant and emotional language to reach the victims of economic globalisation and cultural alienation.
• Advocates a stronger and more critical position of civil society in the Commonwealth.
• Led a campaign with the Network of Peasant Organizations and Producers in West Africa (ROPPA) in Nigeria, involving very small producers demanding policy change to the government and obtaining success on: earmarking 10 percent of government budget to agriculture, to integrate regional and sub-regional markets, and to protect local markets from import of basic products.
• Believes in collaboration between civil society and governments around common issues: “If indeed the goal sought by both government and CSO is the same i.e. the best for the largest majority of the people, the relationship should be one of: cooperation not cooptation; partnership not clientship; and respect not sycophancy”.