It’s haphazard. One moment, the Federal Government is pursuing the Orasanye reforms; the next, it’s churning out fresh ministries to serve political expediency. We took away the petrol subsidy to save the economy, only to become obsessed with distributing money and food to the public as if we can’t sit to think.
There is an existing but idle Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. It has a living department for livestock. It might as well continue to oversee root crops, fertilizer and fisheries until another section of the country finds marginalisation in that arrangement.
The president gave the accolades to Abdullahi Ganduje, his shrewd party chairman, before saying he didn’t want to contaminate the cattle reforms with politics. The president likes to joke sometimes. Ganduje is politics. Ganduje, the midwife of this Ministry for Cattle, knows why it was birthed now. The name is Ministry of Livestock Development. Before long, ‘Development’ will become ‘Research and Development’ so that the masses will know that the government is serious and futuristic.
Fortunately, the president isn’t doing Lagoslokan with this ministry. He has established a Presidential Reforms Committee to be run by Mahmoud Jega. The committee will think out solutions for this cattle problem. That committee will do the spade work and clear the landmines for the ministry. Hopefully, a seasoned politician from the north with some cattle rearing instincts will be made the minister so that many birds are hit with that one stone.