…We will also address it at ECOWAS level – Onyeama
From AIDOGHIE PAULINUS, Abuja
The Food and Agricultural Organization, an arm of the United Nations has assured of its “support to improve the utilization of grazing reserve stock and stock root to mitigate conflict and promote commercialize livestock production.
The assurance came Tuesday as the FAO Resident Representative in Nigeria, Mr. Sufyan Koroma presented his letter of commission to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, yesterday in Abuja., has said a national conference on livestock development expected to come up with comprehensive recommendations to address all issues affecting the sector, will take place this month.
He also assured that Nigeria will benefit from the recently approved United Nations Sustainable Development Partnership Framework for Nigeria since FAO has a significant comparative advantage in the area.
Koroma said that most significant in FAO’s areas of interventions outside planned-programme activities had been the emergency response to vulnerable Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the northeast.
Koroma added that within the context, FAO’s activities are fully aligned with the intervention initiatives of the Buhari administration’s plan.
He noted his competence to represent FAO in Nigeria, saying he had over 20 years experience in supporting the development and implementation of policies and programmes, projects, and in particular, on commodity, trade, and market development.
He said that under his leadership, the FAO will continue to align and strengthen activities at all levels in the country and also with the United Nations country team and other development partners.
In response, Onyeama expressed the federal government’s appreciation of FAO’s intervention in the northeast, adding that Koroma’s profile was excellent, especially in the economic dimension.
He said: “And I hinge the point you made also and it brings this to light, the cattle segment. Of course, this has led to conflict and security issues and it is one of the items we also want to place on the sub-regional agenda, ECOWAS, because we appreciate that it is not just a national issue, but that the trans-human aspect of it is significant. So, we had to also adopt a sub-regional approach to addressing that issue.
“But I think also that the point you made, that there would be a national conference to address that would be very important.”