President Bola Tinubu has created the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development.
Tinubu announced the new ministry on Tuesday during the inauguration of the presidential committee on livestock reforms at the Council Chamber in the State House, Abuja.
The President will chair the Committee, with the former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Attahiru Jega, as the Deputy Chairman.
This is coming amid the lingering crisis between farmers and herders across the country.
The Committee is expected to propose recommendations aimed at fostering a peaceful co-existence between herders and farmers while ensuring the security and economic well-being of all Nigerians.
Tinubu’s announcement comes 10 months after he approved the establishment of the presidential committee to address herders and farmers’ clashes and bolster livestock and dairy industries.
He set up the committee after receiving a report from the National Conference on Livestock Reforms and Mitigation of Associated Conflicts in Nigeria.
The committee, chaired by the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, gave the President 21 recommendations, including creating a Ministry of Livestock Resources.
The President said the committee would work with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to come up with lasting solutions to the age-long crisis between farmers and herders while ensuring the security and economic well-being of all Nigerians.
Following the approval, he said the Federal Government is fully prepared to cover the cost of acquiring the land to ensure the co-existence between herders and farmers.
Recall that the herders and farmers have been locked in a decades-long conflict over access to land and water.
The conflict has claimed hundreds of lives in recent years, with the recent being in Plateau State where over 100 were killed last December.
The violence is often painted as an ethno-religious conflict between Muslim herders and mainly Christian farmers. But climate change and expanding agriculture are also major factors.
Plateau is where the mainly Muslim north meets the largely Christian south and many communities are mixed.
Last December’s attack took place in Mangu area of the North-Central state which is 74km (45 miles) south-east of the state capital, Jos. The city mainly consists of the Muslim Fulani and Christian Mwagaful ethnic groups.
