A committee recently set up by Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State to organise a national conference on livestock reforms on the back of farmer/herder clashes in some parts of the country has announced its resolutions.
Addressing newsmen on Saturday in Abuja, Chairman of the committee and former Chairman of the Independent National National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, said the committee had resolved that the national confab would kick-off on Monday and end on Wednesday.
Jega said 500 participants comprising government officials, traditional rulers, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), academia, development partners and others are expected at the confab.
He said resource persons and researchers with deep knowledge of livestock management and reforms would deliver their lectures during the confab and provide a roadmap for the country.
Jega said the confab with the theme, “Sustainable Livestock Reforms and Mitigation of Associated Conflicts in Nigeria: Farmers/Herders Clashes” is aimed at addressing the challenges associated with the livestock sector and associated conflicts.
He said, “The primary objective of the conference is to bring together a range of stakeholders for cross-fertilisation of ideas with regards to how to reform the livestock sector in this country for significant value addition to the economy of Nigeria and also how to ensure that such reforms are sustainable, and they also promote social cohesion rather than conflicts.
“It is very important that we find permanent solutions in terms of mitigating those conflicts and indeed, having sustainable ways of not only developing the livestock sector, but actually preventing, if not totally eliminating such conflicts.
“The stakeholders expected at the conference are drawn virtually from all the segments of Nigerian society. Without sounding modest, I think we can say this is perhaps, the best or one of the best groupings of arrays of stakeholders in an inclusive process in order to address a national problem.
“And there is no doubt that given the competence and calibres and the capacity of the people we are putting for this conference, the deliberations are going to be very rich and therefore impactful in terms of producing a blueprint to addressing this problem on a sustainable basis.”
