Baba Othman Ngelzarma, President of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association Of Nigeria, MACBAN, has expressed his disappointment over President Muhammadu Buhari’s failure to keep to promises made to the association in 2019 after getting its support to win the election.
According to Ngelzarma, President Buhari has since neglected the Miyetti Allah that contributed immensely in terms of total support towards his victory at the polls in 2019, to serve a second term. He disclosed this while addressing journalists in Abuja, claiming that the president has paid little attention to the development of livestock farming.
According to Ngelzarma, he is miffed because the Buhari-led administration has failed to provide adequate funding to boost livestock farming, under which cattle rearing is categorized. Right from 2016, when Ngelzarma was then the General Secretary of MACBAN, he has relentlessly advocated for the government’s endorsement of the development of existing grazing reserves before providing ranches, towards ending clashes between herdsmen and farmers across the country.
Lately, nothing more has been heard concerning the plans to establish ranches nationwide, even after reports that the Federal Government has secured 65,000 hectares of land from 13 states of the federation for this purpose.
“Buhari let us down, making us know that this government is not interested in livestock farming,” he said, referring to a particular N500 million facility that left livestock farmers out of the loop. “Check how the money was disbursed, we had no share in it, and it’s quite surprising,” he said.
Ngelzarma further stated that cattle farmers face attacks from gunmen still, according to information gathered by the association across the country. He made it known that apart from the killing of cattle, many cattle rearers have also been victims of kidnap, to which he calls on the federal government for help.
