States should establish livestock ministries, sector worth N33trn, says minister

Idi Maiha, minister of livestock development, says the sector is worth N33 trillion.

Maiha spoke on Tuesday at an interactive session with members of the house of representatives committee on livestock development.

The minister said unbundling the livestock sector could boost the economy by N33 trillion.

Maiha advised state governments to establish ministries of livestock for collaboration with the federal government.

“At the moment we are taking stock of those state governments that have external ministry of livestock and fisheries,” he said.

“For state governments that have not created, they should give it effect by having a standing ministry for livestock so there would be a seamless relationship between the federal ministry of livestock development and the state ministries of livestock as the case may be.

“This sector is worth about N33 trillion once unbundled. Once unbundled, we have a huge opportunity to attract capital into the country as well as have a lot of ranchers.

“At the moment, we have a lot of requests from Nigerian businessmen who want to go into ranching and dairy activities.

“So, it is a question of settling down and unbundling this ministry, giving it to the formal sector so that it can be derisked and people will know that beyond what everybody has been saying before the creation of this ministry, today, there is a strong political support from the office of the president and then this committee.”

Wale Raji, chairman of the committee, said if transformed, the sector can provide “huge” jobs for Nigerians.

“The only regret is that the creation of the ministry is coming this late. But our consolation is that it is better late than never,” he said.

“And with your wealth of experience as a technocrat and also a practising farmer, we do not doubt that we have a round peg in a round hole.

“The whole essence would be towards the development and progress of the country.”