Tinubu committed to addressing herders-farmers clashes with innovative approach – Ajimobi 

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Livestock Development, Mr. Idris Ajimobi, at the weekend, said President Bola Tinubu, through the Ministry of Livestock has made significant strides in addressing the perennial herders-farmers crisis in the country.

He said, the ministry, established recently by the President has been working tirelessly to identify the root causes of the problem, which include lack of clean water and food sources for livestock and addressing same through innovative approach.

Ajimobi while speaking with journalists in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, disclosed that the ministry’s approach involves engaging with stakeholders, sensitizing them on the importance of collective action, and providing solutions to the challenges faced by herders and farmers.

He said, “We are going back to the drawing board to identify all the sources of the problem and address them. We must engage the people while doing it, sensitize them, and carry them along because we cannot do it alone.

“The ministry is also working to improve the quality of Nigerian beef and dairy production by providing farmers with the right inputs, such as clean water, food, and healthcare management for their livestock. The goal is to increase local production and reduce reliance on imported dairy products.

“We want to get to a stage where every Nigerian child gets a pack of milk a day. To achieve this, we need to increase our local production and work together as a collective effort.

“The ministry’s efforts have been met with enthusiasm from stakeholders, who are eager to see an end to the herders-farmers crisis. With a focus on collaboration and collective action, the Ministry of Livestock is poised to make a significant impact on the lives of Nigerians and the livestock industry as a whole.”

Idris, son of late former governor of Oyo state, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, also said the ministry is working to revive all the 417 grazing reserves across the country, with a target to revive at least two to three reserves within the next 12 to 18 months.

He added that the government has been in talk with local and foreign partners on the possiblity of harnessing the full potentials of the grazing reserves.

Ajimobi said, “The target is to revive all the grazing reserves as much as possible. Obviously, unfortunately for us, some of them have gotten to a stage whereby you have weeds, aggressive weeds that are growing, that make it inhabitable for livestock in the near future.

“So there are some of them with those issues. But I mean, the bulk of them, about 400 of them, are still very functional. And we just need one or two things here and there to be done to them to revive them, to bring them up to standard.

“And so the intention is to revive all the grazing reserves as much as possible. We are speaking to foreign and local partners to see how we can key them in and who might be interested in what exactly, because there’s interest from all over.

“So, yes, definitely, I know there are discussions to revive at least another two, three of them within the next 12 months to 18 months.”