By Chekwube Nzomiwu
The latest proposal by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to create the Ministry of Livestock Development contradicts the decision of his government to reduce the high cost of governance in the country. Mr. President, were you not the one that ordered the full implementation of the Oronsaye panel report on the restructuring and rationalisation of federal agencies, parastatals and commissions? You inherited 26 ministries and created 10 new ministries to bring the number to 36. You have 46 ministers.
Already, this administration holds the record as the administration with the highest number of ministries and ministers in Nigeria. Creating the Ministry of Livestock will place an additional burden on the beleaguered finances of the country. Going by the words of your National Security Adviser, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, President Tinubu inherited a bankrupt country from the immediate past administration led by Muhammadu Buhari. The first law of holes say, “If you find yourself in a hole, you stop digging.”
For now, I have only heard the herders under the aegis of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) celebrating the proposed creation of the Ministry of Livestock Development. The other party in the conflict, the farmers, are keeping mute. Maybe they are keeping their fingers crossed, waiting for the President to fully unveil the details of the new ministry before taking a position on the matter.
Quite frankly, I think it is too assuming of the President to think that the creation of the Ministry of Livestock Development will end the farmers-herders’ conflicts. The conflicts have lasted for years in Nigeria. However, such conflicts are not peculiar to Nigeria. There has been an upsurge in West and Central Africa over the past 10 years. Although it has at times been given religious and ethnic colourations, the most apparent causes are access to land for grazing and climate change.
With the growing agricultural population in the country in this 21st century, it has become increasingly difficult for the herdsmen to find land to graze their cattle. Out of desperation to find food for their animals, they end up destroying crops cultivated by farmers. The destruction of the farms often result in the eruption of violent hostilities between farmers and herders, causing attacks and reprisal attacks. The human and material losses incurred from the conflicts have been unquantifiable. In Nigeria, the Middle Belt region is the epicentre of such hostilities.
Another driver of the conflicts, according to research, is climate change. Sequel to the desertification and land degradation caused by climate change in northern Nigeria, bands of herdsmen are forced to troop southwards in desperate search of pasture and water for their animals. In the process, they engage in violent confrontation with farmers who are protecting the crops that they planted in their farms. These clashes have become very bloody in the past 10 to 15 years.
Prior to the population explosion in Nigeria linked to the oil boom in the 1970s, clashes between farmers and herders were rare in Nigeria. I could remember that Agricultural Science teachers in our secondary school days told us stories of how farmers invited herders to graze in their land to enable them to use the animal dungs as manure for their crops. This happened those days when there was less competition for land.
The story is different today. With the growing population explosion and infrastructure development, coupled with the menace of land erosion, the available land is no longer enough for the farmers. While announcing plans to establish the Ministry of Livestock Development, an excited President Tinubu expressed the belief that the ministry would solve the problem.
Speaking further, he assured all of the preparedness of the federal government to cover the cost of acquiring land to ensure the peaceful co-existence of pastoralists and farmers. However, I think it is easier said than done. I recall that in 2019 the then administration of President Muhammadu Buhari proposed the establishment of Ruga settlements for the 36 states of the federation. The Buhari government earmarked a whopping N2.26 billion for this venture from the fund for the development of national grazing reserves. Many states, especially in the Middle Belt and southern Nigeria, said they were not interested. Benue State in particular warned that there was no land in the state gazetted for cattle grazing.
Shortly afterwards, MACBAN dragged Benue State Government to the Court of Appeal in Abuja, seeking to upturn the Anti-Open Grazing Law, operating in the state. Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja, had earlier thrown out the suit on the premise that the originating summons brought by MACBAN before the court was incompetent. The rest is history.
Besides, I still cannot fathom how the new Ministry of Livestock Development will address the issue of criminality, which is now interwoven with the farmers-herders’ conflicts. The six herdsmen who kidnapped former Secretary to Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae, in his farm at Ilado, Akure local government area of Ondo State in 2015, demanded N30 million and not the creation of Livestock Ministry.
I don’t see how the creation of the ministry will stop the criminal elements among the herders from carrying out their nefarious activities. It is purely a security issue, which should be tackled by the security agencies, the way they are tackling the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East region, banditry in the North West and parts of North Central, and the unknown gunmen menace in the South East, associated with the activities of proscribed secessionist agitators.
Therefore, I am of the opinion that the proposed creation of the Ministry of Livestock Development is a superficial way of addressing the incessant violent conflicts between herders and farmers. The President should give a second thought to the idea. The top 10 producers of livestock in the world do not have dedicated ministries for livestock. They are China, India, Argentina, Canada, Australia, Russia, France, Brazil, Mexico and the United States of America.
Nigeria is not even among the first five producers in Africa to warrant us having a Ministry of Livestock Development. South Africa, Tanzania, Chad, Ethiopia and Sudan are the top five. In South Africa, livestock is handled by the Department of Agriculture. The others combined the livestock with either fisheries, animal husbandry or animal production. Whatever President Tinubu wants to achieve with the new ministry is achievable under the existing Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The Federal Government can pursue its livestock reforms under the existing ministry. Judging by the experiences of major livestock producing countries in the world, modern ranching is believed to be more profitable and healthier than open grazing of cattle. Open grazing could even cause the outbreak and spread of diseases detrimental to both human and animal health.
In conclusion, I see the new livestock ministry as unnecessary. Every effort should be made minimise the cost of governance in the country. On a lighter note, if there is any ministry that Nigerians would wish to be created now, it is the Ministry of Happiness. Nigerians are very sad now. They are not happy with the unprecedented high cost of living. They are unhappy about the very high cost of petrol, which is adversely affecting transportation cost.
The high cost of transportation is worsening the food crisis in the country. The price of cooking gas is far above where this administration met it when it came to power a year and two month ago. The cost of drugs has skyrocketed. The minimum wage negotiation is taking longer than necessary. The value of the N30, 000 minimum wage that workers are earning has depreciated by over 300 percent.
The country is now at the tipping point because of the injuries inflicted on the economy by the hasty implementation of fuel subsidy removal and unification of exchange rate. The palliatives promised by the government are nowhere to be found. How long are Nigerians going to be patient? Till Thy kingdom come?
Foreign investors are running away from the country. The economic realities today have escalated the seemingly intractable insecurity in the country. The state of the economy is pushing more Nigerians into multidimensional poverty. Every day the media are awash with news of suicide and attempted suicide. Mr. President, Nigerians are depressed. Do something quickly.
• Dr Nzomiwu is the Director of Media and Publicity, Development Communication Research Association of Nigeria (DECRAN). Reactions are welcome via [email protected].