Now that the Macban president is in detention, Nigeria’s agriculture minister should use it as an opportunity to sit down with him and agree a National Cattle Policy

Ayo Akinfe

[1] We shall open six mega ranches in Niger, Borno, Taraba, Yobe, Bauchi and Kaduna states, the territories with the largest landmasses in the country. They will be linked by a commercial railway network which will extend to major marketers like Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Kaduna, Enugu, Benin, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, etc

[2] Our plan is that when these mega cattle ranches are fully operational, we dramatically increase the number of cows in Nigeria from the current 20m to say the 189m produced in India

[3] An industrial plan will be introduced to process the proceeds of these livestock, so there has to be a dramatic increase in the number of dairy plants, leather factories, abattoirs, meat cold storage facilities, refrigerated lorries, etc

[4] Livestock transportation facilities will also be upgraded substantially. We will mass produce cattle railway wagons and have them traverse the country delivering meat to every nook and cranny of the nation

[5] Our industrial support plan will include the manufacture of rail tracks, refrigerated trucks, leather processing equipment, milking machines, etc

[6] Taking the matter to new heights, we will also manufacture mega livestock ships, designed to ferry cattle, sheep, goats etc across oceans. I look forward to Nigeria becoming the manufacturing capital of such vessels. Just imagine how many jobs we would create in the Niger Delta if everyone in the world ordered their livestock ships from our shipyards

[7] As is always the case with shipping, you locate your shipyard on the coast, so I long to see the world’s largest livestock shipbuilding yard in the Niger Delta. President Tinubu needs to set himself the goal of achieving this within the next 10 years

[8] I am perplexed as to why Innoson Motors has not stepped into this debate yet. By now, the company should have delivered a prototype of a unique refrigerated trailer or truck that can serve as a mobile abattoir. Such vehicles should be electric-powered, with solar panels on their roofs

[9] As part of an ambitious and unprecedented drive to fight protein deficiency in Nigeria, we should step up meat consumption too. To cut costs, I would like to see railway abattoirs introduced whereby livestock are slaughtered as they leave ranches and then butchered on trains enroute to markets. By the time a train arrived at Abuja from Mokwa for instance, the cattle should be in small pieces ready to be distributed to say restaurants

[10] The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (Macban) will commit to this project and get its members to fully support it. Macban will also dissolve itself into the Nigerian Livestock Association as part of this plan