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FG Outlines Plans To Permanently Solve Herders – Farmers Crisis

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The federal government has presented a plan to permanently solve the farmers-herders conflicts in Nigeria which has claimed the lives of thousands over the years.

Hundreds of people have been killed in 2018 alone in violence involving nomadic herdsmen in states like Benue, Plateau, and Kaduna.

Aside the loss of lives, the federal government has said that Nigeria loses about $14 billion (₦5.04 trillion) annually to the conflicts.

The presentation of the plan was made by the technical adviser to the National Economic Council (NEC), Andrew Kwasari, on Tuesday in Abuja.

The presentation event was attended by several public officials including the Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh; and the Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom.

Mr Kwasari’s presentation showed that the plan stemmed from meetings and recommendations by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) and the National Economic Council in 2017.

The economic council is headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and includes all state governors as well as some ministers as members.

The government’s new plan is tagged ‘The National Livestock Transformation Plan.’ It is built on six key pillars: economic investment, conflict resolution, law and order, humanitarian relief, information education and strategic communication; and cross-cutting issues.

According to the plan, the economic investment pillar would support and strengthen the development of market-driven ranches in seven pilot states for improved livestock productivity through breed (genetic) improvement and pasture production, in addition to efficient land and water productivity.

The government also said it would rebuild social capital at the community level to promote mutual trust, confidence building and consolidate the peace process, with regards to the conflict resolution pillar.

The plan also showed that the law and order pillar would support the strengthening of legal frameworks for improving livestock production, peace and harmony.

The fourth pillar, humanitarian relief will focus on rebuilding and reconstructing of common facilities – worship places, markets and individual homes that have been destroyed.

The fifth pillar would aid information, education and strategic communication on the development of grazing reserves in the frontline states, and mitigate the consequences of these conflicts such as wanton loss of lives, destruction of properties, including schools and facilities.

The ‘cross-cutting’ issues pillar identifies various cross-cutting issues necessary to realise the objectives of the programme, which include monitoring and evaluation; and research to contribute evidence base in programme implementation; as well as gender mainstreaming, the plan showed.

Ten key states were identified as the frontline states to receive pilot interventions in line with the recommendations of the FMARD and NEC livestock conference.

The states include: Adamawa, Benue, Ebonyi, Edo, Kaduna, Nassarawa, Oyo, Plateau, Taraba and Zamfara.

The plan would include creation of large ranches in each of these states.

“A Ranch Design Plan has also been proposed in models of various sizes clustered in 94 locations in the 10 pilot states. The government intends to transition pastoralism to ranching in order to reduce the struggle for common resources,” Mr Kwasari stated in his presentation of the plan.

In terms of size, the proposed ranch size models are:

“Cluster 30, 60, 150 and 300 cows ranch models in a location within the donated gazetted grazing reserves; and “a minimum 1000 cows breeder ranch in 7 of the 10 pilot states.”

The well equipped ranches will, however, not come cheap.

“Total spending over the 10 year period is slightly in excess of N179 billion,” the expert said.

“FGN-States funding is meant for the first 3yrs in the pilot phase, totaling about N70billion.”

Some of the benefits of the plan include “Expected milk output to be in excess of 200million litres by the 2nd year of the project (but the first year of productivity.”

“Expected milk output of 700m ltrs of milk by the 4th year of the project.”

Speaking on the plan, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh said: “we want to bring this crisis to an end. We will begin action in a matter of days.”

He said nomadic herding was not sustainable and Nigeria must adopt ranching.

He added that there has been a “strong partnership” between the federal and state governments; a view also espoused by Mr Ortom whose Benue State has witnessed some of the most violent crisis involving nomadic herdsmen.

Mr Ortom, however, argued that apart from implementing the new plan, the federal government must ensure that perpetrators of previous killings in the state are arrested and prosecuted.

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Lady dies after friends pushed her into pot of boiling pepper and tomatoes in Delta

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A Nigerian man identified as Israel Joe, has revealed how his friend, Roseline, died after she was pushed into a boiling pot of fresh pepper and tomatoes by her two female friends in Sapele, Delta State.

Joe stated that Roseline, a caterer, went on a trip with her friends to Sapele for a catering job where she tragically passed away on Saturday, April 13.

In a Facebook post on Friday, Joe said that before her untimely death, Roseline confided in him about two of her friends who were treating her coldly.

He urged the Nigeria Police to investigate and arrest the killers of Roseline, pointing out that no progress has been made in the case since her murder.

Joe’s post read, “She was pushed into a big boiling pot of fresh pepper and tomatoes by her friend on Saturday, 13th April. She battled for about two weeks with her roasted/boiled body and finally ḍíęɗ last week Friday 26th April.

“Nobody in the neighborhood in Otokutu knew Roseline had been allegedly kíIIed by these same friends. She was buried with no one to bid her goodbye and with no single bųríaI poster to honour her. Just two days in the morgue, the mørtųarƴ attendants demanded she be carried away to be buried.

“She traveled with them for a catering job in Sapele where they were speaking their local language with this Yoruba girl, Rozzy, not understanding their conversation.

“All of a sudden, she landed in a very big pot of boiling fresh pepper and tomatoes where they even still delayed in rescuing her. She was later rushed to Sage Hospital by Estate in Warri, where they managed the situation, but my friend couldn’t make it.”

Joe said he was pained that those responsible for her death were still walking free.

He added, “What pains me is that these two girls are still walking and gallivanting everywhere like nothing happened. I hate intimidation and oppression, especially against non-indigenous persons. The police must smoke them out so they can face the law. Na God dey help who nor get helper.

E“We shall fight for Rozzy. You can not just be kíIIęɗ like a chicken and bųřried like an aŋímąl. Nobody deserves such a hørribIe dęąth. We never got to meet Rose, only chatting on Facebook due to endless busy schedules only to see you, at the most disgusting sight at Sage Hospital, hoping for your recovery, but dęąțĥ stole you Justice shall prevail, including if you would be exhumed.”

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Stray bullet hits journalist inside Kano government house

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Naziru Idris Yau, a journalist with Abubakar Rimi Television (ARTV), has been hit by a stray bullet inside the government house in Kano state.

TheCable understands that the incident occurred around 6:30pm on Friday during an event to mark the World Press Freedom Day.

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FMC Nasarawa sacks two officials over job racketeering

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The management of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Keffi, Nasarawa state, has dismissed two officials of the hospital over the allegation of job racketeering.

Speaking with journalists on Friday, Yahaya Adamu, chief medical director (CMD) of the hospital, said some other officials were also suspended for similar offences.

Adamu said the management set up a committee to probe the allegation, noting that nine persons were placed under searchlight.

He said the committee, under his chairmanship, had a statutory representative of the federal ministry of health and members of relevant unions, who served as observers.

“The investigation was done in the open and having concluded our work, we forwarded our recommendations to the minister since the board of the hospital is yet to be constituted,” NAN quoted Adamu as saying.

“The recommendations were modified and a final position was taken over all those accused of job racketeering and others accused of committing other offences.

“Nine staff were affected and all of them were tried based on their levels of involvement. Only one of them was found not guilty.

“So, there was nobody who was guilty that was not punished and those who were suspected to be guilty but for one reason or the other, their cases have not been concluded and were asked to remain until we conclude their matter.

“For anybody to say we allowed some of the accused persons to resume work after these steps that have been taken is unfair.”

The chief medical director said Peter Dare, one of the dismissed officials was found to be the arrowhead of the job racketeering syndicate.

He said Dare was immediately sacked, while the appointment of the other official was terminated.

“When somebody is dismissed, it means he will never work for any government institution in Nigeria again and that’s what we did to the one who is the ring leader of this criminal syndicate,” he added.

“The second person was remorseful and considering her level of involvement, we terminated her appointment. In other words, she can still seek employment elsewhere but of course, she has left FMC Keffi forever.”

The CMD vowed to eliminate job racketeering in the hospital by ensuring proper checks and balances, adding that measures have been adopted to provide quality services in the facility.

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Bodex F. Hungbo, SPMIIM is a multiple award-winning Nigerian Digital Media Practitioner, Digital Strategist, PR consultant, Brand and Event Expert, Tv Presenter, Tier-A Blogger/Influencer, and a top cobbler in Nigeria.

She has widespread experiences across different professions and skills, which includes experiences in; Marketing, Media, Broadcasting, Brand and Event Management, Administration and Management with prior stints at MTN, NAPIMS-NNPC, GLOBAL FLEET OIL AND GAS, LTV, Silverbird and a host of others

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