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Animal Identification System: How Western Nigeria can Champion a Massive Economic Development through the Livestock Industry – Ibrahim Maigari


....urges channels TV to ensure balanced and accurate reportage.

Excerpts from an interview with Ibrahim Maigari Ahmadu, Founder/CEO, Livestock247.com


Channels TV, through its Sunrise Daily Programme, had a guest discuss on the cattle trade and Federal Government’s Multi-faceted approach to solving the Livestock industry’s challenges and its issue of national identity. What is your take being a stakeholder in the beef sector?


“We are business concerned and don’t want to get involved in the politics of livestock development as this will only promote hate and division among our people. We are committed and focused on the business development of livestock farming in Nigeria. While others may see it as a problem, we are creating opportunities for the people to get involved in the business of livestock to diversify the nation’s economy.


“The National Livestock Transformation plan of the Federal Government, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, is not like any other agenda being discussed such as the Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) settlements and as a stakeholder, whatever agenda that will lead to the development of the sector, is of my concern. The people need to understand the concepts of production and consumption of livestock. The programme is built on about five pillars but I will explain one to mention a few. One of the strongest pillars is Conflict Resolution and Economic Diversification.


“The root cause of Nomadic Herders and Farmers clash majorly is the competition of scarce resources (water and grass). Predominantly, the Fulani tribes are usually the ones identified with this act. The Fulani man is going round, looking for free grass to feed the animals and in the process ravaged a farmland. The farmers therefore clashes with the herdsmen.


“One thing to also note is the time or season of the year when these clashes occour. This happen during the dry season in the northern part and the herdsmen often take their cows down south in search of food and water. Also, there is a whole lot of deforestation exercise going on in the region which forces the cattle herders down south. Insurgency in the North East, rural banditry in the North West and a host of other factors necessitated a national transhumance in recent years.


“Citing some very important perspectives, the rain stops in the north around October/November every year and the Fulani herders move their cattle down south in search of grass and water. Mind you, a cow consumes over a 100litres of water in a day and these farmers must have started cultivating their various farmlands therefore causing serious clash.


“Moving to the south, the herdsmen pass through the North Central, navigating towards Akwa Ibom and heading to the west to Ikorodu where they can find as many sites as possible to feed their cattle.


“Now that we have identified a problem, it will be much easier to reflect on possible solutions. Nomadic Pastoralism is not sustainable in Nigeria or anywhere in the world. The Federal Government, through the Federal Executive Council, drafted the National Livestock Transformation plan to carefully look into how to develop the sector and make it a multi-billion dollar sector and this I believe will fight against the issues militating the livestock business in the country.


“We as an entity are interested in the business of livestock development. The livestock sector is a multibillion business globally and it is not accustomed to the Fulanis alone. There are several other places around the world where you will find people doing the business of cattle rearing. To get into the business, all you need to do is consider the technicalities of the business, show some love and care to the cattle by feeding them regularly alongside veterinary attention. We have been doing a lot to sensitise Nigerians on the business of livestock.

The Lagos State Example

“Lagos State is the largest consumer of livestock in sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria owns over 43 percent of the livestock population in West Africa and that is about over 50 million of them. According to an official statistics, Nigeria is in control of over 20 million cattle. 60 percent of this population of the cattle resides in the North Eastern part of the country and based on the International Livestock Institute report, 95 percent of these cattle are owned by people who control pastoralism.


“It is an open industry for all and any smart business man should key into the opportunity. Without Lagos, the entire population of the livestock in Sub-Saharan Africa will suffer. Following a statistics of concession and unregistered abattoirs that was given to us by the Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture over three years ago, Lagos consumes over 6,000 cows a day.


“Last Year, we commissioned a consultant to do our own survey so as to ascertain the statistics given to us by Lagos State government. We discovered that there are four livestock Control Centres in Nigeria based on the Animal Disease Act of 1988. These Centres are supposed to control the transportation and assessment of livestock in Nigeria. One of the centres is in Makurdi in Benue State, one is in Nassarawa State. The two most popular ones are Lokoja in Kogi and Jebba in Kwara states. We calculated the number of cattle trucks passing these routes on a daily basis. 60 percent of the trucks passing through Lokoja are certainly heading to Lagos while 20 percent goes to the South East and the remaining 20 heads for the South South. The trucks heading through Mokwa-Jebba certainly circulates the South West. In one week, we recorded one thousand four hundred and fifty eight trucks of only cows with a truck carrying an average of 33 cows and that gives us a total of 38 thousand cows transported within a week to the South.


“Ordinarily, a cow costs an average of N150, 000. So if we calculate that that amount in the values of 38 thousand cows, that gives us a sum of Seven Billion Two million Naira in a week. It is now clear that certainly, the production of cattle comes from the north while the consumption takes place in the south but this does not restrict any Nigerian from doing the business of livestock. This is why the government and stakeholders are trying to consolidate the production and the consumption market for collective economy development of the nation.


“We are presently working to ensure this industry is open for participation and that is why we are championing the cause for an innovative business pattern for livestock. We are also working in line with government's 6-point plan to end herders-farmers crisis, aside encouraging economic investment by encouraging private sector participation in the production and structuring of livestock market in Nigeria.”


How viable is the Animal Identification System in Nigeria and how many states are currently running on the scheme?


“We now have an Animal Identification System where all livestock can be checked. This platform looks forward to transforming livestock business on two premises; firstly, the World Organisation of Animal Health Countries (OIE) report that says 60 per cent of existing human infectious diseases were transmitted from animals. The platform would also mitigate the spread of zoonotic diseases with the listing of only fit-for-slaughter and traceable livestock on the platform.


“The OIE, UNFAO, WCO and the International Standard Organisation all came together to formulate regulations and protocol around ownership and movement of animals. For instance, if there’s an outbreak of animal disease in Nigeria, it is easily traceable to ensure control. The OIE has mandated all member-nations around the world including Nigeria to establish an Animal Identification System. The OIE made a Pretoria Declaration in South Africa in 2015 and mandated all other African countries to adopt the system.

“We lobbied for a bill presented at the National Assembly which was sponsored by a Senator which succeeded in passing the first and second reading up till the public hearing in November 2017 to form the Animal Identification Bureau. This will help us have accurate data that would help create a sustainable agenda for the livestock business in Nigeria.


“We have interacted with some states in the country to carry out the Animal Identification System and one state that is seriously championing the cause is Lagos State being the largest consumer of livestock in Sub-Saharan Africa. We have also proposed to Niger, Katsina and Adamawa states to adopt the system. In the private sector, over 23 states applied to be part of the programme because it is flexible and private sector driven.


Will the impact of states bring about a solution to the national conflict on these issues and have you been in touch with the Nigerian Governors’ Forum or any other regional entity?


“We have made a presentation to the Northern Governors’ Forum about a year ago and we have also met with the Progressive Governors’ Forum subsequently to discuss the advantages of the scheme. I also delivered a paper at ECOWAS regional transhumance summit on proffering solutions to the farmer/herders clashes in West Africa and our technology was adopted at the regional summit in April 2018 and a host of other summits to ensure the sensitization.


“We believe that the South West have enormous potentials to drive this system and boost the business of livestock in Nigeria. The South West is largely the hub of livestock consumption and I believe several initiatives by the governments and private operators in the region will fast track the process of adoption of the system.”


IBRAHIM MAIGARI AHMADU is a Lawyer, Tech Inventor, Serial entrepreneur.
Previous Experience:
Ibrahim started his entrepreneurial journey over a decade ago after a successful career in the organized private sector where he was an Executive in a Manufacturing Company, an Aviation company, as well as an oil and gas company.
He founded or cofounded several start-ups in the IT, Food and Leisure, Education and Renewal Energy sectors, and is on the board of many companies in Nigeria.
Ibrahim was the founding CEO of Sponge Analytics, the Nigerian Data Analytics firm that invented and developed the Animal Identification and Management Solution (MTN AIMS) in partnership with MTN Nigeria (The 1st of its Kind in Sub-Saharan Africa).
Current:
He is currently the Co-Founder/CEO of Livestock247.com (Nigeria’s 1st Online Livestock Platform).
Livestock247.com was recently selected in May 2019 by AfricaMoves in Tunisia as one of the 100 most innovative start-ups in Africa.
Ibrahim Maigari Ahmadu was also selected by the US Embassy in Nigeria and sponsored by the US Government, among 1700 high impact business leaders and entrepreneurs globally, to attend The Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2019 (GES2019), organized by the United State and the Netherlands at the Hague in June 2019.
BusinessDay (A leading Nigerian Business Publication) had this to say about Ibrahim in their June 24th publication;
‘’ Every Nigerian alive today needs to pay attention to Ibrahim Maigari Ahmadu.’’
Ibrahim Maigari Ahmadu lives and works in Lagos where he leads a team of passionate young men and women positively disrupting the livestock sector. He is married with children.