The Federal Government has unveiled an ambitious abattoir plan targeting about 10,000 jobs from each facility capable of processing 500 cattle daily.
The Federal Government is targeting the creation of about 10,000 jobs from each modern abattoir capable of processing 500 cattle daily under planned public-private partnerships across Nigeria.
The Minister of Livestock Development, Alhaji Idi Maiha, disclosed this on Friday during a courtesy visit to Niger State Governor Umaru Bago in Minna.
Maiha was in the state as part of a two-day working visit to assess projects under the Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (L-PRES).
The minister said the proposed facilities were part of efforts to transform Nigeria’s livestock industry by shifting from the transportation of live animals over long distances to the local processing and transportation of meat under controlled, cold-chain conditions.
“We need to pivot from the transportation of live animals into the transportation of processed meat, under cold environment, and that calls for abattoir operations,” Maiha said.
He urged state governments to partner with private-sector operators to establish and operate modern abattoirs in their respective capitals.
According to the minister, the facilities would support backward integration across the livestock value chain while creating opportunities in cattle fattening, pasture cultivation, feed production, animal health services and transportation.
Maiha noted that transporting live cattle from northern to southern Nigeria often results in animal weight loss, road accidents, waste and limited value addition.
He said the livestock sector also had significant potential to absorb unemployed young people through activities including poultry and egg production, milk production and goat processing.
The minister identified feed and fodder, breed improvement and animal health management as the ministry’s three major priorities.
He said the ministry would work with state governments to promote livestock development centres where pastoralists could settle and participate in organised livestock value chains.
Maiha also described nomadism as a survival mechanism rather than a cultural practice, explaining that herders move livestock from areas of scarcity to areas with greater availability of resources.
On dairy production, he said improved breeding could help Nigeria increase domestic milk output and reduce dependence on imported dairy products. He put the country’s annual expenditure on dairy imports at about $1.5 billion and cited an estimated cattle population of about 55 million.
The minister called for stronger collaboration among the Federal Government, state governments and private investors to improve livestock productivity and reduce dependence on imported dairy products.
Maiha commended Governor Bago for creating what he described as an enabling environment for livestock and agricultural investment in Niger State. He also described Zaima Farm, which he visited during the working tour, as a centre of excellence.
The minister also commiserated with the Niger State Government and families affected by recent mining fatalities in the state, urging stakeholders to draw lessons from the incidents and work towards formalising and properly managing the mining sector.
Responding, Governor Bago said Niger State would intensify efforts to address pasture shortages by promoting the cultivation of animal feed.
He said the state had secured $100 million from Saudi Exim Bank, with an initial $10 million earmarked for irrigation projects to support pasture production.
According to Bago, the initiative would provide water, feed, paddocks and veterinary services while creating incentives for pastoralists to settle and participate in organised livestock production.
The governor also disclosed that El-Presco had brokered an arrangement for Niger State to supply about 200 cattle daily to Niger Food and Abis in Abuja.
He said the feedlot arrangement would accommodate between 18,000 and 20,000 cattle in each production cycle and was expected to create about 20,000 direct and indirect jobs. Current reports also confirm that the Niger livestock initiative is being linked to efforts to expand local processing and reduce the need to move live cattle over long distances.
Bago appealed to the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development to review its L-PRES investment plans to ensure that Niger State remained included in the programme.
He also called for the activation of railway routes linking Niger State to Lagos to facilitate livestock movement, reduce pressure on highways and minimise losses associated with transporting live animals.
According to the governor, improved rail transportation could also contribute to reducing farmer-herder tensions by making livestock movement more organised.
Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer of Zaima Farm, Hajiya Aisha Ahmed-Nasir, said the L-PRES intervention had improved the farm’s poultry production and processing capacity.
She said the intervention provided infrastructure, including access roads and a broiler processing unit.
Ahmed-Nasir said the processing facility had enabled the farm to process poultry in a cleaner and more hygienic environment while providing farmers within and outside Niger State with access to processing services.
The Federal Government has been pursuing larger livestock-processing infrastructure as part of efforts to modernise the meat value chain. In June, the government commenced work on a 500-cattle-per-day modern abattoir in Jos, Plateau State, with officials projecting thousands of direct and indirect jobs from the facility.
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