The Presidential Livestock Reforms Implementation Committee has recommended the adoption of both ranching and open grazing, at least in the short term, to halt the recurring clashes between farmers and pastoralists across the country.
Making this suggestion on Thursday evening was Co-Chairman of the committee, Professor Attahiru Jega, while addressing newsmen after his committee submitted a 152-page inception report to President Bola Tinubu at State House, Abuja.
Jega spoke in the company of three other members of the committee, Professor Eustace Iyayi, Dr Winnie Lai-Solarin, and Professor Placid Njoku, explained that abandoning traditional pastoral activities overnight was impracticable, given the large number of people engaged in such activities.
According to him, abandoning pastoralism abruptly for ranching without consideration for those huge populations who have their lives built around the system, would not be advisable.
Jega stated that the committee’s long-term objective was to promote intensive livestock production through ranching. But he said achieving this goal required a gradual transition, accommodating both ranching and open grazing for a period, adding that this incremental approach aims to eventually phase out extensive pastoralism.
Jega, a former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), attributed past challenges and politicisation of the issue to the tendency to seek a single, simplistic solution.
He advocated a nuanced approach, considering incremental positive changes within a specific timeframe.
According to him, “It’s a combination of both. It’s not an ‘either or’ situation. You cannot wake up tomorrow and all you have is ranching because you have already have quite a large chunk of population in traditional pastoral activities, what do you do with them, it’s not either nor, but any solution that has to be developed now has to be a combination of both.
“Why we are promoting long-term objective is that we now have intensive live livestock production, that is a long-term objective, but you know you cannot wake one day and have that, you have to develop policies and frameworks that can accommodate both for a period of time while increasingly the objective is to have intensive livestock production, not to have extensive in the nature of pastoralism that we have now.
“I think some of the challenges we have had in the past, and which also led to politicisation of the issues, is we are quick to develop a single frame of mind with regard to what the solution is, but in a complicated situation like we have, you have to really think in terms of incremental positive changes, but you must have a time frame within which this should be achieved.”
In the report submitted to the president, the committee, comprising of 23 professionals, developed recommendations to unlock the potential of Nigeria’s livestock sector.
Jega said the report detailed several achievable targeted indicators within a 10-year time frame that would inform reforms in the livestock sector of Nigeria, adding that it addresses 12 terms of reference and includes 22 objectives and 3,146 targeted indicators.
Key recommendations included establishing a Federal Ministry of Livestock Development with specific structures and functions.
He further said the committee believed focused implementation could lead to significant improvements within 10 years, benefiting job creation, economic growth, and potential exports.
Jega also said the president had shown full support for the committee’s efforts, which also aimed to mitigate conflicts related to pastoralists and nomadic herders.
He stated, “As many of you may recall, Mr. President inaugurated this committee on the 9th of July, and the committee began work immediately after inauguration, and we have now been able to produce what we call an Inception Report, which contains very wide ranging recommendations as to how our country can tap the potentials of the livestock sector, in terms of opening up the value-chain in this sector and ensuring that by so doing, we develop all sectors in the value-chains to enhance economic growth and development, create jobs, and also ensure that we are not only able to bring about food, feed and nutrition security, but we are also able to significantly begin to export many of the products that are associated with this sector.
“We believe that there has been a neglect of this sector for a very long time and we are very happy that Mr. President has recognised the need to redress this neglect and has invited us to contribute to finding ways and the means of unlocking the opportunities in this sector.
“So I’m very pleased to say that today we presented an inception report to Mr. President and it’s a document of about 152 pages, divided into five sectors. In this report, we were able to address 12 terms of reference that were given to us as a committee, and we were able to develop 22 clear objectives of what the reform effort in the livestock sector should entail.
“We’ve been able to make very specific recommendations on each of these issue areas. In addition to that, we were also able to identify achievable targeted indicators, about 3,146 of them, and we believe that by pursuing these and actualising them, there is no doubt that within a reasonable time frame, in fact, we believe with a focused attention and the effort in implementation, maximum within a period of 10 years, we would be able to actually, remarkably, see improvements in virtually all aspects of the livestock sector; from the large animals to the small ruminants.”
Jega added, “The opportunities are there. In fact, quite often in Nigeria, when you speak about livestock development, people tend to think you are only talking about cows, but the livestock sector is much more than cows and obviously there is in it for everybody, once the conducive environment is created, once the government provide, not just the enabling environment, but other support services that can ensure the unlocking and expansion of these potentials and we have done our best in this Inception report, we have even made recommendations.
“As you are aware, Mr. President has already announced the establishment of Federal Ministry of Livestock Development, and in our report, we have provided detailed guidance in terms of how to set up this ministry, what the structure of the ministry should be, what the mission, the vision, the objectives, the functions of the ministry should be, how many departments it should have, how many technical departments, that is, how many service units should it have, how many institutes should it have, how many research centers it should have, and so on and so forth.
“So we believe that our recommendations are quite comprehensive and if we can meticulously get them implemented, no doubt, very soon, we will begin to see the positive impact in our economy, whether it is in terms of job creation or in terms of development of products and services or even opening up opportunities for export related to these aspects of the livestock sector.”
The former INEC chairman stated, “Of course, the key issue is focused implementation of the recommendations, a periodic review to see where there is need for repositioning and or strengthening of focus and effort in the actualisation of these recommendations.
“I’m very pleased to say that Mr President has given us full support and encouragement to continue to also drive the process of the implementation, of course, with the new ministry in driving the process. So we have expressed our thanks and appreciation to Mr. President for giving us the opportunity to contribute to national development through trying to reform this sector, which has great potential, but which for long has been neglected.”
A committee member, Lai-Solarin, highlighted the potential growth and development that the establishment of the new Federal Ministry of Livestock Development held for Nigeria and investors in the livestock sector.
She said the livestock sector in the country was on the verge of a significant transformation, with investors set to reap huge benefits from the federal government’s establishment of the ministry, saying the country’s vast livestock population presents immense opportunities for investment.
According to her, Nigeria boasts an impressive livestock population, with 563 million poultry, 600 million sheep, 124 million goats, 58 million cattle, and 16 million pigs, making it the largest livestock producer in West Africa and fifth in the entire continent. Lai-Solarin said the poultry sector alone had ₦1.7 trillion in investment.
She also said currently, only one per cent of ruminant livestock were raised intensively, with 85 per cent in the hands of pastoralists, but noted that reforms suggested by the committee aimed to balance this by adopting a more intensive production system, similar to the poultry sector, where 21 per cent of farms operate intensively.
Lai-Solarin encouraged investors to capitalise on the government’s renewed focus on the livestock sector, to ensure not only economic growth, but also improved nutrition security for Nigerians.
Njoku stated that Nigeria’s livestock sector was a goldmine waiting to be tapped, with an estimated economic value of at least ₦33 trillion. But he added that many Nigerians had a narrow and misguided understanding of the sector, often associating it solely with cattle, a particular tribe, or religion.
He said this limited perspective overlooked the sector’s immense potential to contribute significantly to the country’s economy.
Njoku explained that the livestock sector encompassed a wide range of animals, including chickens, goats, sheep, cattle, donkeys, horses, camels, pigs, and others.
Deji Elumoye
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