Taraba Yet to Embrace FG’s Livestock Devt Ministry, Says It’s Still Studying Mandate

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The Taraba State Government has said it has not keyed into the  Ministry of Livestock Development created by the Federal Government because its officials were still studying the mandates of the new ministry.

The state said  it would carry out a comprehensive study to know details of the ministry’s mandates with a view to determining its suitability to addressing its own peculiar challenges.

Chief of Staff to the governor, Mr. Jeji William, stated this in Abuja at the sidelines of a two-day media retreat organised by the Search for Common Ground Nigeria, with the theme:“Media Practice and Farmer Herder Conflict in Nigeria”

William said the Taraba State Government has been tackling issues of farmer-herder clashes with its own ministries of agriculture and water resources.

He noted that though the federal government expected states to key into the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development, that would be done only when its mandates are clearly stated.

“The federal government has created the Ministry of Livestock Development and every state is expected to key into it according to their peculiar and unique problems.

“Whether that problem affects you so much, you will now key into it but if it does not affect you so much, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Water Resources can deal with those problems.

“So, for us in Taraba, that thing is still in process. We are still studying it,” Jeji said, adding that government alone could not solve the problems associated with the farmers- herders conflicts, hence its decision to involve nongovernmental organisations.

“The Taraba State government is looking at the possibility of creating an NGO hub. If you come in, we will give you an office where you will work.

“The essence is that as you are settling down and you are  confronted with these problems and it will be easier for you to solve these problems as they are. Not as a second-hand information you will get. You will be part and parcel of that problem,” he said.