Analyst faults proposed creation of livestock ministry

Igboke communicated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja.

He said it was counterproductive to creative a new ministry when the Federal Government had decided to scrap and merge a number of ministries, parastatal and agencies based on Oronsaye’s report.

“The government got it wrong; we do not need a new ministry to tackle the menace of open grazing; what we need is sound policies in ranching which will ban open grazing.

“Livestock farming and cattle rearing are private businesses; the government did not set up ministry for automobile dealers or ministry of textile development, neither did the government create ministry of crop development.’’

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He said that in trying to solve oil spillage in the Niger-Delta, instead of confronting the international oil corporations (IOC), government created NDDC; yet oil spillage continued.

“Again, in an attempt to stop militancy and illegal bunkering, Ministry of Niger-Delta was created, it didn’t solve the problem.

“The government also created the North-East Development Commission to tackle the impact of insurgency but it didn’t solve it,” he said.

NAN reports that President Bola Tinubu on July 9 created the Ministry of Livestock Development to address the long-standing farmers-herders crisis and boost Nigeria’s livestock sector.

Tinubu said the ministry was tasked with proposing recommendations to foster peaceful coexistence between herders and farmers while ensuring the security and economic well-being of all Nigerians.