Governor Seyi Makinde has said Oyo State will not provide free land for cattle ranching as he believes it is a private business.
The governor said this in a Twitter message on Wednesday to explain another tweet on Tuesday where he expressed his readiness to implement the National Livestock Transformation Plan.
After a meeting with Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State on Tuesday, Makinde wrote on Twitter that “we also agreed that the National Livestock Transformation Plan which is already being implemented in Kwara State would be implemented in Oyo State leading to further collaborations between both states on economy and security.”
His tweet was taken by many to mean an implementation of rural grazing area settlements which many Nigerians had in the past kicked against.
To clarify his position, Makinde wrote “my attention has been drawn to this tweet regarding the implementation of the National Livestock Transformation Plan during the joint security meeting, yesterday. For the avoidance of doubt, when I said we would implement the plan, I didn’t mean a wholesale implementation.”
In another tweet, the governor added “we will be taking aspects which are beneficial for our state. As I have stated on several occasions, our position in Oyo state is that ranching is a private business and should be carried out as such. Our admin won’t be providing land for free to private investors for ranching.”
The National Livestock Transformation Plan was inaugurated by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Gongoshi Grazing Reserve in Mayo-Belwa Local Government Area of Adamawa in September 2019.
The vice president said the plan would be implemented as a collaboration project between the federal and state governments, farmers, pastoralists and private investors.
