A ranking member of the House of Representatives, Hon Femi Bamisile, has hailed president Bola Ahmed Tinubu over the creation of regional and livestock development Ministries to further bring cohesion and speedy development to critical sections of the country.
Bamisile said the berthing of the two Ministries will nip in the bud, the recurrent cases of slow pace of development in some crisis and disaster -ridden regions and checkmate farmers-herders clashes that are quaking the country’s foundation and threatening the cord of unity.
The Chairman, House Committee on Delegated Legislation, said these in a statement issued in Abuja, on Thursday.
Tinubu, on Wednesday, after the statutory weekly federal executive council, announced the creation of the two Ministries and scrapping as well as merging of two others.
Espousing his views on the creation of the two new Ministries, the representative of Ekiti South Federal Constituency 2, saluted President Tinubu for his astuteness and shrewd thinking that regions that had been craving for development on account of neglect, disaster and crises are given attention through the regional Ministry.
He described the President as a man of courage and uniqueness, who could think outside the box to initiate policies and programmes that will further brighten the future of Nigeria, rather than embarking on cosmetic approach to governance to earn cheap popularity.
Of particular reference, Bamisile said the new Ministry will restore sanity to the crises ridden Northwest and Northeast regions, by rebuilding the areas that had been under the tolls of insurgents and bandits for the past one decade.
“We all know the crises of insurgency and banditry had crippled the economic growth of Northeast and Northwest in the last 10 years. This current arrangement will help the government to quickly rebuild the area and as well accord attention to the internally displaced people.
” The Southeast that has been ravaged by erosion for more than five decades will now breathe a sigh of relief. The issue of IPOB and the attendant sit at home proclamation that was gradually destroying the economy of the business oriented region can be decisively tackled to restore sanity”.
Bamisile added that most thrilling was the special Ministry of Livestock Development created by President Tinubu to arrest the dangerous slide in the herder-farmers clashes, saying the current measure represents the most potent action taken by any government in history to tame the menace and restore unity among the Fulanis and farmers.
“With this, I believe the dingdongs of crises emanating from killings and destruction of farmlands will reduce. I charge the new Ministry to focus attention and invest hugely on new and modern ways of rearing cattle like building of ranches in some strategic states where herd of cattles can be restricted instead of being allowed to move around to constitute threat to farmlands and crops”, Bamisile said.
Bamisile regretted that over N500 million worth of cassava were destroyed along Idege farmland in Ado Ekiti alone in 2023, with over 100 farmers counting their losses, urging the new Ministry to tackle this headlong to avert scarcity of food and loss of interest in farming by Nigerians.