By Cross Udo, Abuja
The National Economic Council (NEC) has constituted a committee on livestock development to expedite the implementation of livestock production in Nigeria.
This is just as Chairman of the Council, Vice President Kashim Shettima, has said, a practical, enduring, and nationally accepted solution to the farmer-herder crisis will guarantee food security in the country.
The NEC committee on Livestock Development, which was constituted on Wednesday during the 155th NEC meeting held virtually, is to work in collaboration with other stakeholders.
The committee has one member each representing the six geo-political zones, comprising Bauchi for the North-East, Niger for the North-Central, Ondo for the South-West, Imo for the South-East, Cross River State for the South-South region, and Kebbi for the North-West.
Other members of the committee include the Ministers of Livestock Development, Agriculture and Food Security, Budget and Economic Planning, and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Agribusiness (Office of the Vice President).
Council directed the committee to, among other things, review the recommendations of the Presidential Livestock Reform Committee and the Ministry of Livestock Development’s proposal, and to identify interested states for the programme’s implementation.
President Bola Tinubu had, at the Federal Executive Council meeting held on 10th December 2025, directed NEC to collaborate with the Ministry of Livestock Development to develop a roadmap for transforming Nigeria’s livestock industry.
The Ministry worked on the proposal, which was presented to the Council for its endorsement, all in the bid to transform Nigeria’s livestock sector into a modern, peaceful, and profitable engine of national development.
Earlier in his opening address, Chairman of NEC, Vice President Shettima, noted that while food security is a moral obligation to the citizens, it can only be guaranteed by practical, enduring, and nationally accepted solutions to the farmer-herder crisis.
“We must acknowledge with absolute regret the deep distrust created by this violence, born out of a trade and an ancestral practice that ought to have remained a central pillar of our food security and rural economy. The loss of lives, the destruction of homes, and the devastation of farmlands must end.
“We cannot perform a task as fundamental as feeding ourselves unless we find an enduring, practical, and nationally accepted solution to the farmer herder crisis. Food security is a moral obligation to our people,” he stated.
Shettima identified mismanagement of long-standing tensions between farmers and herders as the cause of “the conflicts that have strained the ancestral bonds of communities across Nigeria.”
He regretted that what started “as a challenge of coexistence gradually hardened into cycles of violence that were allowed to persist for far too long without a durable solution.
“Today, that violence respects no geography. It has become a shared nightmare that has scarred every region, disrupted livelihoods, and eroded trust between neighbours who once relied on one another for survival,” the VP added.
He commended President Tinubu’s bold initiative to transform livestock production in Nigeria, especially by integrating the sector into the national economy.
The Vice President urged state governors to take seriously the presentations by the Ministry of Livestock Development and the Presidential Livestock Reform Committee (PLRC), particularly the opportunities in the sector for economic transformation, conflict resolution, and peace restoration in parts of the country.
Shettima noted that, in recognition of the sector’s enormous potential and opportunities, President Tinubu created a separate ministry for livestock development in Nigeria.
He assured that the recommendations of the PLRC and the Ministry of Livestock Development would receive priority attention from the Tinubu administration, even as he sought the support of sub-nationals to harness the vast opportunities in the sector fully.
