Food Security: Jega Pushes For Gene Banks, Insemination Labs

Professor Attahiru Jega, former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Special Adviser to the President on Livestock Reforms, has proposed the establishment of regional gene banks and artificial insemination laboratories as part of sweeping reforms to reposition Nigeria’s livestock sector and avert a looming food crisis.

Jega made the call on Monday while delivering a lecture at the University of Ilorin titled “The Political Economy of Livestock Development in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects.”

The event was held in honour of Senator Saliu Mustapha, chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, as part of the university’s Distinguished Personality Lecture Series.

Jega warned that Nigeria faces a serious risk of protein deficiency, worsening rural poverty and deepening insecurity if the livestock sector remains neglected.

“Our livestock sector must move from underperformance and conflict to becoming a driver of peace, productivity and prosperity,” he said.

He proposed a national livestock transformation strategy that includes the creation of regional livestock gene banks to support the deployment of artificial insemination labs. These would help raise milk yields from one litre to at least 10 litres per cow per day by 2030.

According to the president’s aide, disease-resistant poultry breeds, mobile veterinary brigades, and stronger surveillance systems are necessary to guard against animal-borne disease outbreaks.

As part of broader reforms, Jega advocated for National Livestock Industrial Zones in all six geo-political regions.

These zones, he noted, would include export-certified abattoirs, cold-chain dairy clusters and leather parks powered by renewable energy.

He said the adoption of climate-smart ranching and the delineation of grazing reserves through a National Ranching Corridor System would reduce farmer-herder clashes by up to 70 per cent within five years.

To boost productivity, he proposed the launch of Operation Feed Abundance, a feed security initiative focused on expanding maize and soya feed mills in key agricultural states.

The strategy, he further noted, also includes support for women and youth through a National Livestock Entrepreneurship Scheme, provision of single-digit loans, and market access via digital platforms like LivestockNaija.

On export development, Jega recommended “the establishment of Special Livestock Export Zones in Lagos, Kano and Jos, featuring halal and kosher certification centres and ECOWAS-compliant quarantine facilities”.

Speaking at the event, Senator Mustapha urged governments to commit at least 10 per cent of their budgets to agriculture in line with the Maputo Declaration.

He also encouraged students to consider livestock farming as a viable career path.

In her address, the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Professor Adedoyin Jolade Omeda, said the topic was timely given the country’s pressing economic and security challenges.

The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Professor Wahab Egbewole, represented by Deputy Vice Chancellor (Management Services), Professor Adisa Fawole, said the lecture aligned with President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and praised Jega as a fitting choice for such a crucial discourse.

Jega concluded by stressing the urgency of action.

“This is not just another policy document,” he said. “It is a national imperative. The time for half-measures has passed. We must transform livestock from a crisis point to a pillar of prosperity.”