The technical sub-committee established by the National Economic Council, NEC, on National Livestock Transformation Plan is engaging with local communities in affected States in the northern part of Nigeria.
This is in pursuit of the objectives of the livestock plan set out by the NEC, which is chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
The engagement commenced on 29th October and would continue till the end of current crop harvest period.
According to a statement from the office of the Vice President, the engagement was taking place in seven frontline States in the North Central and North East regions of Nigeria, as part of the implementation strategy to institute lasting peace in affected areas.
The engagement is aimed at consolidating on previous interactions with local communities and it 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 said: “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”.
“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, 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.
The National Livestock Transformation Plan proposed by the Minister of Agriculture, 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.