By Aliyu DANLADI
The National Economic Council (NEC) chaired by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, is continuing its engagements with local communities in the northern part of the country.
A statement signed by Olusola Abiola, Deputy Director, Media and Publicity Unit, Office of the Vice President, said the engagements were in furtherance of the realisation of the objectives of National Livestock Transformation Plan established by NEC.
He said that the engagements, which commenced on Oct. 29 would continue until the end of current crop harvest period, was taking place in seven frontline states in the North Central and North East regions.
Abiola said that it was aimed at consolidating on previous interactions with local communities as the engagements would 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, expressed optimism that the engagements would be fruitful.
“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”.
He said that the initial engagements and fact-finding missions by the sub-committee which took place between February and March, resulted in the consolidation of the National Livestock Transformation Plan.
The government team in the sub-committee includes representatives from the Presidency, Ministries of Agriculture, Interior; Office of National Security Adviser; National Orientation Agency; National Commission for Nomadic Education.
Others are National Emergency Management Agency; Nigeria Police; National Security Civil Defence Corps; Federal Commission for Refugees and Displaced Persons.
Also in the team 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, Chief 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 is 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.
It is also aimed at unleashing enormous economic, socio-cultural and human capital development for the regions and the entire country.
