AUDU Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture, says the ranches the federal government plans to create across the country will have abundance of fodder and water, regular supply of electricity and accommodation for the herdsmen.
Ogbeh, who is currently in The Netherlands with President Muhammadu Buhari, said this while addressing Nigerian post-graduate students at the Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR), Netherlands – reputed to be among the best agricultural research institutions in the world.
He told the students that the country is counting on people like them to drive the agricultural revolution which includes a new method of cattle rearing, away from the nomadic system of grazing and its attendant disadvantages.
“We congratulate you on coming here to pursue your studies, and we expect that when you get back, you’ll find a different situation in the country because we will need some of you to manage the ranches,” Ogbeh said.
“When you do return, it’s people like you whom we hope we can organise to manage the ranches. There will be water, there will be fodder, and there will be electricity and some accommodation for the herdsmen.
“Believe me, after six months, when the herdsmen realise that this new life is better than roaming through the bush, you will not have to force him to leave that place.
“It’s going to be slow, it’s going to be a bit expensive but we must end the crisis. We have to stop it because the crisis is unnecessary. The killings are undesirable.”
Also speaking, Babagana Monguno, National Security Adviser (NSA), charged the students to channel their studies and researches towards coming up with a solution to tackle the drying up of the Lake Chad.
Monguno stressed that if a solution is found and the Lake stops receding, it will discourage a lot of people from migrating.
“We have spent years from 1964 till now, doing feasibility studies on how to get water back into Lake Chad. Something is wrong if we keep going on and on in perpetuity without getting any result,” he said.
“If we are able to solve the problem of lack of water in the Lake Chad, it will discourage people from migrating in large numbers to other places.
‘‘I think we also have to ask young people like you, young men and women, new generation to begin to interface with people in this environment, your colleagues from the Netherlands on how we can deal with this problem.”
President Buhari departed Nigeria on Sunday for The Netherlands where he had been invited to deliver a keynote address at the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), at The Hague.
Aside Ogbeh and Monguno, other officials in Buhari’s entourage include Abubakar Malami, Attorney General of the Federation; Geoffrey Onyeama, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Aisha Abubakar, the Minister of State, Industry, Trade and Investment, and Maikanti Baru, Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Others are: Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State, Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State and Hadiza Bala-Usman, Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).