Miyetti Allah backs Tinubu for 2027, points to livestock ministry

The National President of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Baba Othman Ngelzarma, has thrown the association's weight behind President Bola Tinubu's bid for a second term in 2027.

He announced the support at a rally in Kaduna on Saturday, saying herders and livestock traders want to repay an administration they believe has finally taken their industry seriously.

The rally was put together by the Fulbe APC Forum and the Tinubu Yeso-Yeso Political Forum, working with pastoralist and trader groups and an umbrella body of livestock dealers and butchers. It carried the theme "United for Inclusion, Representation and Prosperity."

For ordinary Nigerians, the gathering matters less as a political endorsement than as a window into a sector that shapes the price of meat, milk and hides in markets across the country.

Why the ministry is the talking point

Ngelzarma said the creation of the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development in July 2024 met a demand pastoralists had pushed for decades. He said the move has also nudged some state governments to set up their own livestock agencies.

"The creation of the livestock ministry is something we have been advocating for and looking forward to for decades," he said at the event.

The Minister of Livestock Development, Idi Mukhtar Maiha, told the rally that the sector's problems are well known: too few veterinary services, scarce pasture and water, costly feed, weak markets and low output.

He put Nigeria's stock at about 58 million cattle, 124 million goats, 70 million sheep, 9.3 million pigs, 3.2 million donkeys, 700,000 camels and 300 million birds, and said those numbers represent money waiting to be made.

Maiha said seven veterinary hospitals have been completed and equipped under a World Bank-backed programme, with more on the way. The plan, he said, is to spread veterinary services to all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, and eventually to primary facilities in the 774 local government areas.

He asked livestock associations to spend the next three months identifying their members' problems and proposing practical fixes.

On the recurring clashes between farmers and herders, the minister called for dialogue and careful sharing of land and water, saying the industry cannot grow without peace between the two groups. He also urged young people to see livestock as a business, not just a tradition.

Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani, represented by Agriculture Commissioner Murtala Dabo, said the state's livestock budget has risen from ₦1.48 billion in 2023 to more than ₦100 billion in 2026. He said the state has sunk solar-powered water points in pastoralist communities, widened vaccination drives and started artificial insemination services.

Better feeding and breeding, he said, have lifted milk output from some cattle from about 1.5 litres to between three and four litres.

The state is also upgrading abattoirs and other facilities along the livestock chain.

What happens next

The associations have three months to bring their proposals to the ministry. Whether the promised veterinary network and market upgrades reach herders outside Kaduna will be the test of the claims made at the rally.