There is little doubt that the livestock sector is a potent element in the nation’s economic mix. Its contributions to the country’s protein needs and value chain cannot be underestimated notwithstanding that we have nagging issues arising from some primordial practice of animal husbandry.
However, it is reported that President Bola Tinubu has taken current measures towards addressing the problems challenging the livestock sector which undoubtedly poses as a monster to both sector practitioners and the larger population.
It is salutary that the Federal Government is on the verge of creating Livestock Ministry that would see the current Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in which livestock is domiciled to stand alone. It is indeed a step in the right direction with the setting up of a livestock reform committee with the President as its Chairman and the former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, as the ‘co-chairman’.
Tinubu’s pedigree as an astute businessman is likely to come to play here even as believe the combined intellect of Jega a renowned member of the academia would foster a fresh impetus that would turn the tide for the sector’s overhaul. We believe by the time they are done with their reforms, the nation would turned a more rewarding experience for both livestock farmers, value chain and the public which is the direct target of the farmers..
We urge him and his committee to eschew every iota of politics of ethnicity, religion and other primodialities and see this reform as strictly a means of bringing the livestock sector into the mainstream of the Nigerian economy. The crop sector of our agriculture is a mainstay of the economy, with clear contributions to our annual gross domestic product, GDP.
Livestock used to play a big role in hides and skin production apart from providing food. It can do a lot more if its value chains are professionally developed, and this is what we expect the Tinubu/Jega committee to do, in collaboration with critical stakeholders.
For the livestock reform to work, nomardism must end. Animals must be restricted to ranches. Herdsmen militias must be disbanded and disarmed, and non-Nigerian herders must be deported to their own countries. These are the steps that will remove the security threat posed by herdsmen against farmers and other law-abiding citizens.
Moreover, it must be understood that livestock business is not the preserve of any ethnic group any less than fishing and farm cultivation are. It is a business and occupational effort that anybody can choose to embrace or invest in. Therefore, favourable conditions should be created for anyone, including state governments, who want to exploit the incentives that will be created to freely do so.
It is not reasonable to hold onto the mentality that livestock farming is a preserve of one ethnic group or the other. We must see it as all-comers business and the environment must be made conducive for as many Nigerians that would want to venture into it. We advocate a system that would guarantee herders security and privileges enjoyed by other citizens so long as they remain law-abiding.
To properly integrate traditional herders into any modern schemes, they must be co-opted into every facet of the nation’s socio-economic fabric in order to give them a sense of belonging.
For as long as traditional herdsmen remain in their pristine settings and practice, we will continue to experience the long term concerns of clashes, insecurity and avoidable human and material losses. We urge that farmers must be seen to be lawful citizens but not law breakers. They must distinguish themselves from foreign infiltrators who have become a thorn in the life of our nation by perpetrating all forms of evil.
Livestock farming should never be an instrument for conquest by forceful land acquisition so as to avoid unnecessary friction.
We counsel that outcomes of the committee’s recommendations must include the need for a total overhaul of the sector as it is long overdue.
