Bennett Oghifo
Minister of Livestock Development, Alhaji Idi Muktar Maiha, has assured stakeholders in the sector that the ministry would liaise with the Federal Ministry of Finance and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) towards ensuring a single-digit interest rate and long tenure loans in the sector. Maiha stated this during a facility visit to ABIS Ultra-Modern Livestock Processing Factory in Lekki, Lagos, on Tuesday.
The minister emphasised that the ministry would work on achieving a single-digit, pension capital, loan moratorium, and loan payment plan that would drive the livestock sector on the path of growth.
He stated, “We do know that there are challenges. We are now going to work with the Minister of Finance, to make sure that capital loans in the agricultural sector are effective. There is no way you can establish an abattoir and have 25 per cent interest rate.
“There is no way you can go ranching or feedlotting and pay 16 to 20 per cent interest rate and get three to four years’ repayment. We need pension capital. We need single digits. We need long-term repayment. At least minimum 10 years. That is when that farm will mature.”
At the tour of the facilities, including the abattoir that processes 250 cows per day in a certified hygienic environment, Maiha commended ABIS group for bringing modernity into the livestock processing business and creating employment opportunities for women. He said the ministry will work to ensure that certified abattoirs were created nationwide.
Maiha stated, “You can see how neat the facility is, whether you are talking about poultry, whether you are talking about fish, or goats, or beef. That is the way to go. That is our discussion with the executive members of the Lagos State government.
“We are talking about having laboratories everywhere so that we stop bringing lorries, and trailers. You bring process, and culture. You pick up your phone and you order meat. You order processed meat. You can see here all the by-products.
“The blood, the faeces, the horns, the hooves, the skin, everything is processed. It is also raw materials for other industries.”
He pledged the ministry will not relent until it achieved a separate mandate of transforming the agricultural sector into a modern, profitable, sustainable, and globally inclusive industry for national food security, job and work creation, and for the stability of the rural area.
In his remarks, Chairman and founder, ABIS Group, Ambassador Emmanuel Usman Nelson, stated that government’s support for the livestock production sector with loans at single digit will fuel change in the sector.
Nelson said the government also needed to fix dilapidated roads for ease of transporting livestock and ensure access to land towards expanding the business. He advised herders in the country to embrace modernised way of rearing livestock instead of roaming through the forest.
Usman lauded the livestock development minister and Lagos State Government for supporting operators in terms of granting of approvals to operate and urged them to do more in modernising the sector, as well as creating more jobs through livestock development.
He disclosed that ABIS Group, a hub for livestock processing in Lagos, had created jobs for hundreds of youths and less privileged women, who had been trading within the hub since the past five years.