Emir blames low animal production on bad leadership

From David Kuvie Bauchi

Emir of Muri, Alhaji Dr. Abbas Njidda Tafida has slammed  Nigerian leaders for failing to pay attention production of required number of animals that can complement economic growth of Nigeria.

Tafida observed that 90 percent of cattle, sheep and goats are in the hands of migrant Fulani herders in Nigeria whose literacy level is at the tail end of national average.

The Emir was speaking at the 11th annual meeting/conference of the Animal Science Association of Nigeria and Nigeria Institute of Animal Science (ASAN-NIAS), held at the Zaranda Hotel in Bauchi recently.

He said he had been making effort in the past five years to bring into Nigeria,  Brazilian cows  to no avail.

He said, only less than 20 percent of  herders have the basic education necessary for managerial skill development, adding that there is a lot of work that need to be done.

“It is almost impossible to convince them to make long time investment that are necessary to establish pasture and develop pasture processing systems”, he said.

The Emir who noted that the first point of science which is mainly observation assessment and problem solving, expressed optimisms that at the end of the conference, the participants would work hard to determine the best course of action that can serve national interest.

He insisted that those in leadership positions today are spending too much time on meetings, empty boasting and other unproductive indulgences instead of spending time observing problems that can be easily seen, consulting professionals and well-intentioned to identify problems and proffer solutions.

“Our animal production sector in agriculture is the biggest victim this error of leadership “, the monarch said.

“We cannot continue to have our cows exposed to risk of diseases, we cannot continue to produce one liter of milk per cow when others are getting 40 liters per day, we cannot continue to import milk into the country, we cannot fail to produce when we have 30 unemployed youths.

“How did we found ourselves in this? The answer is clear, it is caused by the failure of our leaders to pay attention to issues at stake at each point in time”