‘N6.25bn Katsina ranching end-game to herders/farmers clashes’

The Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr. Osita Okechukwu, Sunday described the flag-off of the N6.25 billion Katsina ranch as the end-game for the incessant herders/farmers clashes in Nigeria.

Okechukwu, while speaking with journalists in Abuja said the flag-off was the most important news event last week that trended in the media contrary to most headlines on the electronic transmission of election results by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the most important event of the week.

He

expressed

surprise that the issue didn’t get the prominence it deserved.

Daily Trust reports that on the occasion of the visit of President Buhari to Katsina on Thursday, 16 July, 2021, Governor Aminu Masari announced that the Federal Government had approved N6.52 billion for ranch development in the state, and disclosed that N5 billion of the amount had already been paid into the state government’s account.

“This is the first direct intervention through the state government with regard to Federal Government’s ranch development initiative,” governor Masari added.

Okechukwu, speaking on the reason why he rated ranch development as more important than the transmission of election results electronically said it was because of the harm posed by the herders/ farmers clashes to the corporate existence of the country that Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Vice President and the Governors of the 36 states under the National Economic Council (NEC) came up in 2018 with the blueprint of the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) as a panacea.

While urging President Buhari to fast-forward Ranch Development nationwide, Okechukwu said: “The Katsina Ranch is a poster boy of the National Livestock Transformation Plan, good news and we need more urgently.”