National Livestock Transformation Plan: NEC Sub-committee engages with local communities in North Central & North East

• On-going engagements to last till end of current harvest season

In furtherance of the realization of the objectives of National Livestock Transformation Plan established by the National Economic Council (NEC) chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, the technical sub-committee established by NEC is continuing its engagements with local communities in affected States in the northern part of the country.

The engagements which commenced from 29th October till end of current crop harvest period, is taking place in seven frontline states in the North Central and North East regions of the country as part of the implementation strategy to institute lasting peace in affected areas.

Aimed at consolidating on previous interactions with local communities, the engagement will eventually lead to the development of local conflict prevention, resolution and mitigation frameworks.

Speaking on the importance of the meetings with stakeholders, the Senior Technical Adviser on Agriculture Policy in the Presidency, Dr. Andrew Kwasari stated: “we anticipate that working with the communities in this consultative way will address the perennial conflicts between agrarian and pastoral communities by mutual consent to seek peaceful resolution of issues”.

Continuing, he said, “our goal is to ensure that communities are well-prepared with conflict prevention and resolution tools in addition to supporting the way of life of all their members in the regions particularly in the forthcoming dry season when competition for resources of land, water and pasture intensifies within the communities”.

According to him, the initial engagements and fact-finding missions by the sub-committee, which took place between February and March 2018 resulted in the consolidation of the National Livestock Transformation Plan.

The government team in the sub-committee include representatives from the Presidency, Ministries of Agriculture, Interior; Office of National Security Adviser; National Orientation Agency; National Commission for Nomadic Education; National Emergency Management Authority; Nigeria Police; National Security Civil Defence Corps; Federal Commission for Refugees and Displaced Persons.

Other members are Civil Society Organisations in partnership with the Governors of Adamawa, Benue, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Plateau, Taraba and Zamfara States.

As it would be recalled, the National Livestock Transformation Plan proposed by the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh include six pillars, namely Economic and Investment; Conflict Prevention and Resolution; Justice and Security; Humanitarian Relief; Information, Education and Strategic Communication and; Research and Innovation.

The Plan was conceived to forge concerted collaboration of the Federal Government and State Governments with a view to align public and private sector investment, which has potential to end the historic violent conflicts between crop and livestock farmers as well as unleash enormous economic, socio-cultural and human capital development for the regions and the entire country.