By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA – THE Federal Government, Wednesday, moved to position the newly created livestock sector with harmonized frameworks and data to seamlessly operate and massively contribute to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, of the economy.

Speaking at the multi-stakeholder workshop on the National Livestock Data Baseline and the Validation of the National Livestock Monitoring and Evaluation, M&E, Framework, the Minister of Livestock Development, Idi Maiha, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Dr Chinyere Akujobi, stressed the importance of the workshop and the essence of it at this point.

Maiha said the workshop serves as a critical platform for the Ministry and sector players in achieving the Ministry’s transformation agenda under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which the Ministry prioritizes food security, job creation, revenue expansion, improved service delivery, and modernization of livestock production systems.

The participants at the workshop had the opportunity to refine baseline methodologies, validate performance indicators, assign ownership to each indicator, and establish a reliable reporting architecture for the livestock sector.

By integrating all sector data into a single framework, the Ministry aims to create a results-oriented livestock sector where data drives action, performance drives results, and results contribute to national development.

He said: “The Ministry’s deliverables are derived from Mr. President’s priority activities. Each department further develops its own deliverables, cascading down to individual officers.

“These are tracked, assessed, and periodically evaluated to ensure strategic coherence, accountability, and meaningful contribution to our shared goals.”

He also noted that activities in the sector must be unified for an enhanced ministry performance, and these activities include animal health, extension services, production, planning, research, database management, disease surveillance, traceability, and grazing reserve development.

The Minister pointed out that sector that is harmonized, having accurate, and timely data will facilitate decision-making process, create efficient resource allocation, and sustainable investment preparedness to benefit sector players and attract further investments.

Meanwhile, according to the Head Programmer and Delivery,
De Olimage Company Limited, Josephine Okeke, the Ministry’s M&E platform integrates over 400 indicators from the National Livestock Gas (NL Gas) strategic document and the Ministerial Performance Board, consolidating them into eight sectorial goals to measure results effectively.

Okeke further stated that the system includes a data collection solution and an interactive dashboard to visualize progress, track activities, and enable predictive analytics for informed decision-making, and that the system is designed in such a way to basically monitor results and not just outputs, therefore, it ensures that each activity contributes to measurable results.

While the baseline study is expected to serve as the foundation for performance tracking from 2025 – 2035, a 10 year period that will support Nigeria’s goal of achieving a $74 billion contribution from the livestock sector to the GDP of the country.