By Deborah Hassan
365Daily – A former Presidential aspirant, Adamu Garba, has supported the call by Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) asking herders to leave the southern part of Nigeria, adding that cattle has more value than petroleum resources.
In a tweet posted on Monday, May 17, 2021, Garba said when cattle is processed and exported, the northern states will be able to generate more than enough revenue to sustain it.
Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association of Nigeria, Bauchi State chapter, had directed its members to vacate the 17 states in Southern Nigeria following a ban on open grazing by governors of the southern states after a meeting held last week in Asaba, Delta State.
Garba tweeted: “I perfectly agree with this proposal. All Fulani present in Southern Nigeria should come back. We shall use the cattle, process the resources, and sell all over the world as finished goods.
“Cattle have more economic value than the entire oil and gas reserve we have in Nigeria. Our major stakeholders in the North must admit cows as business opportunities not just culture & invest heavily to bring #CowToCurrency to reality. Cows alone can solve all Northern problems.
“The job opportunities, the manufacturing centres, & the connection to global hubs of demands for the best cattle meats can open more doors and set for the liberation of Northern Nigeria from cheap and somewhat, useless oil assets. We must invest in harvesting the value of cattle.
“A litre of Cow at N350 is much more than the value of a litre of oil at N145. With over 20 million cows, take 1/3 as milk-producing female on average of 5 litres a day, we’ll have almost N12Bn/day from cow milk. That’s about N700M/state/day. About N21Bn/State/Month.
“That is much higher than the Monthly Allocation the largest state receives in the North. Again, each cow can generate a minimum of 3 Jobs. Rearing, Slaughtering, Processing, marketing, Selling, and management. 5M cows =15M jobs. I marvel at the laziness of Northern Governors.
“Northern Governors think awarding contracts for building roads, taking their cuts is all they need for themselves. Doing so has subjected the North to condescension and dehumanization from some elements in the South. The time is now for them to wake up to our potentials.
“It is becoming increasingly clear that the 2023 election is a game between cattle states and non-cattle states. Let’s be blunt about this. If Northern leaders do not wake up to this urgent reality, the target will not just be the cow, but the cow harbouring states and their adherents.”