The Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, His Majesty Ahmed Tijani Anaje, has praised the World Bank, the Federal Government, and the Kogi State Government for investing extensively in the livestock sector, which has generated enormous wealth for Nigeria.
The royal father made this statement while staff and management from the Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project, KOGI L-PRES, led by the state project coordinator, Dr Olufemi Bolarin, visited the palace of Ohinoyi of Ebiraland in Okene as part of stakeholder engagement with traditional rulers in the state’s central senatorial district.
According to the monarch, cereals and livestock husbandry have been the trademarks of the Ebira ethnic group, saying that the significant investment in the livestock sector in Kogi State would undoubtedly improve the lives of rural inhabitants.
He charged the program’s participants with using the input they will receive to grow their livestock farming in order to earn revenue and become employers of labour in the near future.
The royal father committed the cooperation of traditional institutions in the central senatorial district to ensure the project’s success and benefits to the people.
Earlier, Dr Olufemi Bolarin, while recounting some of Kogi L-PRES’s accomplishments, said that the process of creating a multi-million naira livestock service centre has begun at Confluence University of Science and Technology Osara.
Dr. Bolarin stated that the center, once recognized by the national authority of L-PRES and fully operational, will serve as a training ground for animal scientists as well as a boost to livestock production and trade in Kogi State.
“We are in your domain today to request your permission and royal blessing to begin the distribution of inputs to the 500 women and youth chicken producers in Kogi State.
“L-PRES will offer day-old chicks, feeds, drugs and vaccines as well as input for beneficiaries of broiler production, while those in egg production get Point of Lay, feeds and drugs just as beneficiaries in the marketing and processing, will also get preservation equipment (deep freezer), generator set, stabiliser, table-size broiler birds and packaging bags,” according to Dr Bolarin.
The state project coordinator said that Kogi is the only state that has implemented such an intervention to improve livestock farming in remote areas.
