The federal government has
presented a plan to permanently solve the farmers-herders conflicts in Nigeria
which has claimed the lives of thousands over the years.
Hundreds of people have been
killed in 2018 alone in violence involving nomadic herdsmen in states like
Benue, Plateau, and Kaduna.
Aside the loss of lives, the
federal government has said that Nigeria loses about $14 billion (₦5.04
trillion) annually to the conflicts.
The presentation of the plan was
made by the technical adviser to the National Economic Council (NEC), Andrew
Kwasari, on Tuesday in Abuja.
The presentation event was
attended by several public officials including the Minister of Agriculture,
Audu Ogbeh; and the Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom.
Mr Kwasari’s presentation showed
that the plan stemmed from meetings and recommendations by the Federal Ministry
of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) and the National Economic Council
in 2017. The economic council is headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and
includes all state governors as well as some ministers as members.
The government’s new plan is
tagged ‘The National Livestock Transformation Plan.’ It is built on six key
pillars: economic investment, conflict resolution, law and order, humanitarian
relief, information education and strategic communication; and cross-cutting
issues.
According to the plan, the
economic investment pillar would support and strengthen the development of
market-driven ranches in seven pilot states for improved livestock productivity
through breed (genetic) improvement and pasture production, in addition to
efficient land and water productivity.
The government also said it would
rebuild social capital at the community level to promote mutual trust,
confidence building and consolidate the peace process, with regards to the
conflict resolution pillar.
The plan also showed that the law
and order pillar would support the strengthening of legal frameworks for
improving livestock production, peace and harmony.
The fourth pillar, humanitarian
relief will focus on rebuilding and reconstructing of common facilities –
worship places, markets and individual homes that have been destroyed.
The fifth pillar would aid
information, education and strategic communication on the development of
grazing reserves in the frontline states, and mitigate the consequences of
these conflicts such as wanton loss of lives, destruction of properties,
including schools and facilities.
The ‘cross-cutting’ issues pillar
identifies various cross-cutting issues necessary to realise the objectives of
the programme, which include monitoring and evaluation; and research to
contribute evidence base in programme implementation; as well as gender
mainstreaming, the plan showed.
Ten key states were identified as
the frontline states to receive pilot interventions in line with the
recommendations of the FMARD and NEC livestock conference.
The states include: Adamawa,
Benue, Ebonyi, Edo, Kaduna, Nassarawa, Oyo, Plateau, Taraba and Zamfara.
The plan would include creation
of large ranches in each of these states.
“A Ranch Design Plan has also
been proposed in models of various sizes clustered in 94 locations in the 10
pilot states. The government intends to transition pastoralism to ranching in
order to reduce the struggle for common resources,” Mr Kwasari stated in his
presentation of the plan.
In terms of size, the proposed
ranch size models are: “Cluster 30, 60, 150 and 300 cows ranch models in a
location within the donated gazetted grazing reserves; and “a minimum 1000 cows
breeder ranch in 7 of the 10 pilot states.”
The well equipped ranches will,
however, not come cheap.
“Total spending over the 10 year
period is slightly in excess of N179 billion,” the expert said.
“FGN-States funding is meant for
the first 3yrs in the pilot phase, totaling about N70billion.”
Some of the benefits of the plan
include “Expected milk output to be in excess of 200million litres by the 2nd
year of the project (but the first year of productivity.”
“Expected milk output of 700m
ltrs of milk by the 4th year of the project.”
Speaking on the plan, the
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh said: “we want to
bring this crisis to an end. We will begin action in a matter of days.”
He said nomadic herding was not
sustainable and Nigeria must adopt ranching.
He added that there has been a
“strong partnership” between the federal and state governments; a view also
espoused by Mr Ortom whose Benue State has witnessed some of the most violent crisis
involving nomadic herdsmen.
Mr Ortom, however, argued that
apart from implementing the new plan, the federal government must ensure that
perpetrators of previous killings in the state are arrested and prosecuted.
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