President Bola Tinubu has stated that his administration’s renewed focus on driving international and local investments into the livestock sector of the agricultural value-chain would end the crisis of farmer-herder clashes, eradicate hunger and poverty in Nigeria as well as promote economic prosperity.
According to a statement by his spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu said this in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil during the signing of a Letter of Intent between the Nigerian government and JBS S.A, one of the top three largest meat processing companies globally.
“What we are doing right now is that we are solving a problem that afflicted humanity in that part of Africa, clashes between farmers and migrating cows that have caused some bloodshed when there is a modern, civilised way to solve those problems and even bring a successful economy out of it.
“We are trying to turn a situation of tragedy, hopelessness into economic opportunity, see through problems and see the opportunity that is involved in it,” the president said.
He urged the company to see the considerable potential in what he called the $2.5 billion livestock investment opportunities in Nigeria, especially with its huge population and tap into it, given JBS S.A’s globally recognised expertise in the area of guaranteeing food security.
“We’ve heard so much about you in terms of the reputation, and we believe in the partnership we are forging today. Food security is extremely important. As we talk right now, there is hunger. However, there is huge hope, and you are one of those hopes that we are looking at,” he added.
President Tinubu told the JBS top executives that Nigeria was ready to do business with them, assuring them of a good return on their investment.
Prior to his visit to Brazil, the president had commissioned a team of Nigerian officials and private sector players to take the advantage of the G20 leaders’ summit in Rio to conduct a study tour of Sao Paulo, Brazil and explore the opportunities in livestock development, meat processing, seed development and multiplication for key grains.
In his remarks, the minister of livestock development, Idi Muhktar Mahia, who led the delegation, reported to the president that the team embarked on guided, extended and intensive tours of companies on the scale of their global reach, the integrated nature of their operations as well as the deployment of advanced technology. He added that from their interactions with various companies, JBS S.A. was chosen being the second largest meat processing company in the world with the capacity to process 33,000 cattle daily and over eight million birds daily, using advanced zero-waste practices. The company employs over 200,000 people across its subsidiaries in more than 50 countries in the world including United States, Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia among others.
Wesley Batista, founder and president of the JBS group, said the company is the largest employer of labour in Brazil with over $79 billion dollars revenue already in year 2024.
“We are glad to work with Nigeria to work together to develop the livestock industry there. We think it’s a good opportunity for our business in Nigeria and Africa as we believe Nigeria can be the center of supply of protein to many countries in Africa. We look forward to working with you. We are almost in December and this year is almost gone. We hope to be in Nigeria as soon as possible,” he said.
