Shettima Assigned Ranch Initiative by Tinubu

Vice President Kashim Shettima has been instructed by President Bola Tinubu to lead the National Economic Council’s (NEC) efforts to locate and restore grazing reserves around the country so they can be turned into ranches.

According to the President, the action was essential to resolving ongoing disputes between farmers and herders as well as to releasing the economic potential of Nigeria’s livestock industry.

Speaking at the Federal Executive Council meeting at the State House in Abuja, Tinubu assigned the NEC the responsibility of investigating potential grazing areas in different states that might be developed into livestock communities.

Tinubu stated, “I believe the Vice President should first get the NEC to see which villages or grazing reserves can be salvaged or rehabilitated into ranches, livestock settlements, especially livestock reform.”

The President emphasized that workable solutions that also provide financial benefits are needed to resolve the long-standing conflicts between farmers and herders.

“We need to make the cattle reform economically viable and remove any potential for confrontation. There is an opportunity. Let’s make use of it,” he said.

Tinubu added that the NEC must operate within the constitutional framework to ensure states that are willing to participate in the conversion process since land belongs to the states.

“And it’s in NEC. Let’s stop this conflict area and turn it into economic opportunities and prosperity if we exercise the constitutional requirement which states that the land belongs to the states, whichever one they can salvage and convert to a livestock village,” he continued.