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Ministry not needed to boost livestock

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By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu’s creation of a new Ministry of Livestock Development again underscores the inherent contradictions in efforts at resource management.

Besides struggling with sundry economic woes including a debt of N121 trillion, expanding the government with the creation of yet another ministry, which brings the number to a record 49, suggests a lack of commitment to trimming governance costs.

The Federal Government already runs over 1,000 ministries, departments, and agencies including foreign missions per Federal Civil Service Commission. Most are poorly funded, ineffective, and perform overlapping functions. Reversing this anomaly by merging some MDAs was the kernel of the Steve Oronsaye Report that Tinubu promised to implement. The President is now going in the opposite direction. So, the ministry is not needed.

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The new MLD is one of the 21 recommendations of the National Livestock Reforms Committee set up in September 2023 under Abdullahi Ganduje, chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress with a mandate to suggest solutions to the age-long herders attacks on farmers.

The committee recommended the resuscitation of grazing reserves and other methods of land utilisation as part of the conflict mitigation and resource utilisation agenda. The rationale for the new ministry’s creation is a strong institution to implement these and other recommendations.

The ministry seems to be a political gambit designed to appease the northern bloc. It revives the contentious RUGA policy of the Muhammadu Buhari administration (2015-2023).

The herders’ conflict was triggered by decreasing access to land and economic and sociocultural divisions between populations. Crucially, it is a direct result of the failure of cattle breeders and owners to invest in modern animal husbandry techniques and models but prefer a zero-cost approach to the detriment of sedentary farmers. This is the issue that must be addressed.

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The conflicts have resulted in over 60,000 deaths across 22 states since 2001 according to researchers from the University of Abuja and the displacement of hundreds of thousands, especially in the North-Central.

This is due to declining pasturelands, desertification, expanding populations, poor agronomy practices, the proliferation of small arms and crime in rural communities, and the breakdown in traditional conflict resolution mechanisms of land and water disputes. Several unregulated militias have sprung up to protect communities, farms, and cattle exacerbating the general insecurity across the land.

The livestock reforms committee recommended the resuscitation of the 415 grazing reserves, which cover about six million hectares in the 19 northern states of which only 115 have been developed. Miyetti Allah, the umbrella body of cattle breeders has urged states to make the land available since pastoralists do not have any land to settle.

Without a doubt, cattle farming is a big business. More than 200 million cattle live and graze in Brazil, bringing $123 billion into the country’s economy annually, about 8.5 per cent of GDP. In 2023, Brazil further boosted agricultural production with $91.8 billion in financing for farmers and ranchers to expand an already formidable sector.

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The government cannot manage ranches having failed woefully with past experiments such as the Mokwa Cattle Ranch established in 1964 specifically for fattening purposes by the German and Nigerian governments with full compliments of infrastructure, facilities, and machinery at European Union standards. It collapsed in 2004 under the weight of mismanagement.

The solution lies in commercial cattle ranches, which must be the prerogative of the states and private investors. The idea of grazing routes should be buried. The livestock ministry should not be a compensation for herders who have driven cattle into people’s farms to destroy crops.

The government should limit itself to technical and financial interventions to support settled ranchers. The nomadic lifestyle to support cattle breeding is incompatible with 21st-century living apart from the conflicts it generates.

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No going back on forex, subsidy reforms – Finance minister

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The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, says there is no going back on the current administration’s reforms in the forex and oil and gas sectors.

Edun made this known when he received the newly assigned Minister of State for Finance, Doris Uzoka Anitez at the Ministry’s headquarters, on Monday.

“Nigeria now have a foreign exchange rate that is market based and also a deregulated oil market pricing which are two reforms that are long overdue over many decades that President Tinubu is currently implementing.

“Therefore as co-ordinating minister of economy, we stand on a threshold of a new dawn to implement these reforms and increase productivity, create jobs and reducing poverty and we are glad to have a minister of state that will help in actualizing the President’s reforms,” he said.

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According to him, consultation and collaboration is key to achieving these key reforms both from public and private sector, stressing that ongoing economic policies are showing sustainability and sign of success.

The Minister of State for Finance, in her response, restated her commitment to work with stakeholders in both private and public sectors to ensure economic growth is materialized.

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Rivers: Fubara fond of disobeying judgements, – Amaewhule-led Assembly

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The Martins Amaewhule-led House of Assembly in Rivers State said Governor Siminialayi Fubara has a penchant to disobey courts’ judgements and constitutional provisions.

This is as the lawmakers also vowed to make Fubara’s appointees and permanent secretaries aiding him to circumvent the law have their date with the law.

They stated this during their 65th sitting on Monday in the legislative quarters.

In a statement by Martin’s Wachukwu, Special Assistant on Media to the Speaker, Martins Amaewhule, said the lawmakers reviewed the governor’s actions while deliberating on the recent judgement of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division.

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The state legistators comnended the verdict of Justice J.O. Abdulmalik barring government from withdrawing from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the State, until the 2024 Appropriation Bill is presented before a properly constituted Assembly describing it as a sound and well considered ruling.

The statement also pointed out that the Assembly on 15th July, 2024 deliberated and resolved on the continuous refusal of Fubara to present the 2024 Rivers State Appropriation Bill to the House.

The lawmakers then took the decision to write to the governor to shut down on expenditure pursuant to Section 122 of the 1999 Constitution.

Enabled by its resolution, the House and Amaewhule filed an action before the Federal High Court to determine whether Fubara could expend or continue to expend from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the State without a valid 2024 Appropriation Law by the State House of Assembly.

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The lawmakers prayed the court to invoke the consequences of such constitutional breach by ordering the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Accountant- General of the Federation, some Money Deposit Banks among other defendants to stop the release of moneys or permit the withdrawal of Rivers State funds until Fubara complied with the Constitution which he swore to uphold; and the court decided in favour of the House and the Speaker.

Commenting on the judgement, Amaewhule said, “Since 1st of July, 2024, Governor Fubara has been spending moneys of the State without approval hence the declaration of the shutdown of expenditure.

“Yet, the Governor in his characteristic manner of disobeying judgements of Courts, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and extant laws has continued to circumvent the Law with the aid of Permanent Secretaries, and some individuals who parade themselves as Commissioners. They will certainly have a date with the Law”.

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NAF Airstrikes neutralize ISWAP commander, dozens of others

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The Nigerian Airforce says its airstrike has neutralized 50 terrorists, including a high-ranking ISWAP commander known as Bashir Dauda, during an operation in Marte Local Government

Air Commodore Olusola F Akinboyewa, Director, Public Relations and Information, Headquarters, Nigerian Air Force, in a statement on Monday night said the precision strikes focused on known ISWAP strongholds in the villages of Tumbun Daribiyar, Jubularam, Buluwa, and Tumbu Karfe, marking a major effort in the ongoing fight against terrorism in Nigeria’s Northeast.

It said an on-ground assessment confirmed that “approximately 50 terrorists, including a high-ranking ISWAP commander known as Bashir Dauda, were neutralized in the operation.”

” Additionally, an ISWAP supply depot in the Jubularam enclave, filled with a substantial cache of food and essential items like beans, millet, and rice, was destroyed, effectively severing a critical resource line for the terrorists.

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“These successful air strikes, targeting personnel and logistics, underscore NAF’s ongoing commitment to supporting ground forces and enhancing joint efforts to decimate terrorist strongholds in the region,” he said.

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