Livestock sector neglect costs Nigeria $1.5bn spent on dairy food import, says Tinubu

By Egena Sunday Ode

President Bola Tinubu has expressed his administration’s preparedness to collaborate with stakeholders to give the livestock sector all it needs in order to stimulate prosperity and instil confidence in investors.
The President spoke when he opened a two-day Consultative Workshop on Livestock Reforms on Thursday at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja.
Recall that Tinubu had on Wednesday announced a substantive Minister for the newly created ministry of Livestock Development. He had also in July appointed an Presidential Committee to implement the reforms in the sector.
President Tinubu described the livestock sector as critical to the country’s development, contributing much to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and providing decent jobs.
According to him, the long neglect has weighed on the country’s import bill as between $1.2 and $1.5 billion is being spent to import dairy food.
“The long-term neglect of the livestock sector has weighed heavily on the country’s import bills, with milk and dairy products accounting for $1.2-1.5 billion.
“The livestock sector is a very important sector, we’re going to give it all it needs to bring value to our country. I assure you that you will not regret the collaboration and the investment coming into this sector,” he said.
President Tinubu, therefore assured of his readiness to partner with other stakeholders to exploit the inherent opportunities that abound across the livestock sector value-chain and make it a thriving commercialised industry similar to what obtains in other developing countries.
“Investors are already asking questions; how will we collaborate? The committee and the ministry and I will do everything possible to attract them. We can create a vivid picture of the future we want to see, the future of our country.

“It’s about time that we did it right. A country of over 200 million people and cannot serve our children one pint of milk in the classroom per day. We didn’t see the investment opportunities, we didn’t see the economy in the past, now we’ve seen it, we must work together to realise the dream.”
Commending the Presidential Livestock Reforms ImplementationCommittee, the President said: “Our shared vision is clear, we aim to transform the livestock … from its current subsistence model into a thriving commercialized industry, like other developing world.

“Yes we can do it, we can bring prosperity to our people, we can feed our children. From grass, we can achieve grace. We can contribute so much to the Nigerian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provide decent jobs.

“We didn’t see the cold room investment, we didn’t see that opportunity before now, but it’s coming. We are going to give it all it takes, I assure you we will succeed together.”

“Let’s unite in our effort; from reform to realisation of our dream and ambition. I stand before you fully committed to this,” President Tinubu assures.

The Chairman of Northern Governors Forum (NGF) Abdulrahman Abdulrazak, assured of the “100 per cent buy-in of the subnational to make the reform a success because it is not just food security, but national security.’’

Abdulrazaq applauded President Tinubu for leading the initiative by chairing the implementation committee, regretting that past efforts in the same direction were reduced to files in the Ministries of Agriculture in states and local councils due to lack of political will.

Continuing, Abdulrazaq stressed that “this is not just about food security. It’s also about national security.

“We’ve had several programmes. We have several programs before, like the Ruga programme, the National Livestock transformation program. We’ve not achieved anything with them. They’re just files in the Ministry of Agriculture.

“What we are doing here today is laying the foundation of a better future for us in the state and the local governments.

“That’s where the land is. We have to make efforts to make land available, to make the federal government’s policy a success for us in Kwara, what we have done is we’ve seen that over the years, herdsmen roam across our countryside.”

Refaring to herdsmen, Governor Abdulrazaq said “they’ve been there for hundreds of years, but never at any moment, sought to seek a certificate of occupancy. So they believe, rightfully to their beliefs that land and water belongs to God.

“So, they’re not interested in your C of O or right of O. But this is where we need to start changing and educating them to say you should have a C of O in pursuing and deepening that effort, we worked with the French treasury, the French government, who funded free of charge, a sustainable ranching project, which will be based on a ranch that predates goes back to the first republic.

He said each state should create a segment for livestock farming and extend the value chain to meat and dairy production.

The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, commended the President for his “bold action, exemplary leadership and unparalleled commitment to livestock reform.’’

Kyari assured of working with the Ministry of Livestock Development to realise the president’s vision to diversify the economy and empower more Nigerians.

Earlier, Co-Chairman of the Committee, Prof Attahiru Jega disclosed that unlocking the potentials in the long-neglected livestock sector across its value-chain, and reforming and improving its entire ecosystem, would be immensely beneficial to virtually everybody, everywhere throughout the country in terms of new business opportunities.

He said it will also lead to generation of employment and incomes, especially for the country’s teaming youths, contribute to food and nutrition security, and remarkable value addition to our country’s GDP.

“Significantly, reforming the sector would also help to mitigate the perennial conflicts between farmers and herders, which have bedeviled the sector, with negative consequences of community relations and beneficial productive activities,” he added.

He said the objective of the two-day consultative workshop is to obtain both the additional input to the reform process and buy-in, from a range of critical stakeholders drawn from the Nigerian Livestock value-chain and ecosystem.

Jega further explained that engagement with critical stakeholders would be a continuous process, as all hands need to be on deck to ensure a well-considered reform process and its seamless and successful implementation.