Adamawa can generate N180b from cattle, says Buhari

A consultant with Arewa Research and Development Project, Alhaji Aminu Buhari, has said that Adamawa State has the capacity to generate N180 billion from its cattle trade alone, if it is properly repositioned and modernised.

Buhari, while presenting his research findings on agribusiness to the state government, yesterday, in Yola, said that if the cattle markets in Genye, Ngurore, Song and Mubi were modernised, the state could rake in N180 billion within 10 years.

The consultant, who was engaged by the Governor Ahmadu Fintiri administration to help develop a blueprint on agribusiness, pointed out that Adamawa was the second poorest state in the country in terms of Internal Generated Revenue (IGR).

According to the research, investing in the state’s livestock industry is economically beneficial. Buhari pointed out that agribusiness would provide opportunities for all strata of the society and reduce youth migration to urban areas as well as crime rate in the state.

“Adamawa is at a crossroads financially. Agribusiness is very important because in the near future, states depending on federal allocation will no longer meet their constitutional obligations,” he said.

Governor Fintiri, he noted, is correcting the ills in a sector that was neglected by previous administrations, noting that, the programme, if effectively implemented, the state would exit the group of financially distressed states.

Fintiri, who was represented at the sensitisation workshop on agribusiness support programme by the Secretary to State Government (SSG), Bashiru Ahmad, said the workshop was organised to educate the people of the state on why government was taking the N100 billion bond.

The bond, which he said the state would access in four tranches of N25 billion yearly for four years, would be fully channelled to agribusiness development in the state.

If the state fails to diversify its economy to increase IGR, in the future, even workers cannot be paid due to the complications facing the oil industry in the country, he added.

Urging Adamawa people to disregard the rumour that the money would be diverted to other uses, he said the people should ask those sponsoring such malicious campaign if the promises made by the present administration were not implemented within two years. He stated that for the first time in the history of Adamawa, an administration sited projects in all the 21 local councils.