Undoubtedly the recent cabinet reshuffle has caused two things in Adamawa State. One is loss of the Ministery of Education which can in no way compensate gains that may come from Ministery of Livestock Development assigned to Minister from the state; and two, the loss of Prof. Tahir as ‘mutumin da zai faɗa, a ji’ in APC Adamawa State, which may also not be compensated by the presence of Idi Mukhtar Maiha in the party in the state.
Ministry of education is monster of a ministry with several boards and parastatals from which the state can benefit more. Two, in terms of political experience, Prof. Tahir held more political appointments than Idi.
I don’t know Idi Mukhtar Maiha as much as I know Prof. Tahir in terms of politics and academics. For Tahir, I have given details of his academic qualifications and politics and I rated him him in both.
For Idi I first met when he was a staff of Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemicals Company (KRPC), when Idi and I drove in his own car from Yola to Kaduna. We discussed a quite great deal, including cattle ranching, which he was doing in Kaduna; which based on his advice, I am doing in Fufore. Also when I was PA to Minister of Agriculture, we did talk on this our common interest.
Idi is no less special in his chosen career either. He was also in academics albeit for a short period of time as a lecturer in Adamawa State Polytechnic, where he rose to the position of Acting Director, College of Administration and Business Studies. In the public service, Idi was Sole Administrator of Mayo Belwa LGA and Chairman Caretaker Committee, Guyuk and Mayo Belwa LGAs.
Where Idi achieved distinction in his career was in the Oil and Gas sector where he was prominent. He occupied several important positions in NNPC before which he was the non technical Managing Director of KRPC. He was also a General Manager at Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (NLNG).
Upon retirement from service, Idi went into private cattle ranching full time in his Zaid Farms, one of the successful integrated farms in this country, based in Kaduna.
Fellow politicians of APC party in Adamawa State, I know how you feel about the exit of Tahir and Idi’s entry. Let me therefore state here that all politics is local, and rightly too, but as both Prof. Tahir and Idi Maiha are our sons, we need to wish Prof. Tahir well and welcome Idi with open arms and hope as though the ministry of education is quite important, Livestock Development is vital to economies of all nations, including Nigeria.
We should know too that Livestock is a source of nutrition, a source of income, a source of employment and a source of foreign exchange. For low income producers, livestock serves as a store of wealth, source of organic fertiliser for crop production and a means of transport. That Nigeria is now set to leverage the advantage of this age old important economic sector with the creation of a ministry is a welcome development. That an indigine of Adamawa State is tasked to bring up the sector as pioneer head, is equally important to us.
I know some of us are not enthusiastic or do seem to downplay the importance of this ministry to our economy. Also not many of us politicians are happy with the reshufflement. This, it appears to me is because most of us do not know how Livestock can be a source of generating foreign exchange to this country as well be a sector for employment generation. Idi has big job in his hands to disabuse the minds of many.
People need to be informed that in many countries, the Livestock sector is a huge contributor to economic development. In America, for instance, agriculture generates approximately $190 billion in cash receipts a year, of which over 50% are generated from livestock agriculture. In Brazil, China and in the European Union, Livestock industry is one of the pillars of the agribusiness sector. Even Saudi Arabia which is 95% desert exports dairy to the world which contributes 43% to its agriculture GDP.
Unfortunately here because of neglect of the Livestock sector, despite our massive landmass, adequate rainfall and huge cattle population that provide market for Livestock products, we still import Livestock from Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
Most of us do not know that the primary benefit to be derived from increases in livestock productivity is a sustainable improvement in the livelihoods of livestock producers, many of whom are resource poor, and are landless. We always overlook this big challenge while in fact it is one of the reasons why we have insecurity especially in the north.
If only we know the huge respite to our security challenges this sector can provide, if properly hernesed, we shall welcome the creation of this ministry with open arms especially because one of us has been given the opportunity to write his name in gold by providing key solutions to Nigeria’s security challenges.
The fact that the new minister owns a big cattle ranch himself makes him a practitioner. In his farm which, I know in Kaduna, they undertake integrated production systems, he develops new forages, genetically improve his herd, recover pastures, feed supplementation, good production practices and calf early production. If only he can replicate this in all geopolitical zones of this country, we will all be better for it.
I have always maintained here that it is because of our failure to achieve this at the national level that left agriculture in the hands of peasants for far too long. Uneducated people with common hoe and cutlass, as I always said, cannot feed this nation. And as I have also maintained, we have left our Livestock sector in the hands of uneducated people who are resource poor and land less. This is why they can’t keep their Livestock in an enclosure, which is the main source of farmer-herder clash and insecurity.
Idi Maiha is not a politician. But he is equally experienced as I said. He has acquired skill as a result of devoting much time and effort that made him an expert in livestock ranching. If comfirmed by the Senate, I hope, Idi will serve well in this ministry.
LET ME CLARIFY THIS
Here it is necessary to clarify certain things regarding livestock.
1. It is unfortunate that most of us do believe that livestock is about cattle only. On the contrary, livestock is about all animals that produce meat, dairy and leather. A Ministry of Livestock Development is therefore about the keeping of animals for meat and dairy produced by goats, sheep, pigs, cattle and chicken.
It is therefore wrong to attribute the newly created ministry to any particular tribe or ethnic group. Idi Mukhtar knows this fact for he is a practitioner.
2. What is not in doubt however is that of all livestock, cattle is the most important. And of course today, in this country, unfortunately cattle is synanimous with insecurty, including food insecurity.
3. Among owners or former owners of cattle, (no thanks to rustling), in today’s Nigeria there are good guys and bad guys. My view has always been that unless we identify and separate the good guys from the bad guys masquerading as herders, we may not know the real victims of the atrocities of the bandits who are common criminals.
4. Creating this ministry is important for if minister Idi would team up with the NSA, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, they can leverage on mandates of their both offices to rid this country of the insecurity we have as a result of activities of the bad guys.
5. Land Use. As I have always argued on this arena, all that is needed to rid this country of the insecurity of banditry and kidnapping is to look at the challenges of land use. We give too much emphasis to crop agriculture (which majority of us partake in) while neglecting livestock agriculture in land use.
To correct this imbalance, I suggest that the ministry should create zonal offices in all geopolitical zones, and in conjunction with state governors, provide land to individuals in each zone for cattle ranching. In doing so, government must insists on phased banning of open grazing over time to keep cattle in enclosures.
I said this with all sense of responsibility and for the fact that land is never a resource on which animals can be left to wander about uncontrolled. It is because we do so that our Livestock cause insecurity for other land users. Urbanization cannot stop. It marginalizes users of land for livestock production. We must halt this.
In the end, yes, Idi Maiha, as a practitioner knows these things. He knows that nomadism hurts the nomads more than any other group. With this knowledge, we can address climate change challenges by providing water, pasture and power to the people engaged in the business, for business it is.
If Ribadu and Idi can do these, this country will shine and they will also shine.
They have a date with history.
- Dasin is a former member of the House of Representatives from Adamawa State
