We are a nation of vandals who destroy every one of mother nature’s gifts

By Ayo Akinfe 

(1) This is the Mokwa Cattle Ranch (MCR), established in 1964 specifically for livestock fattening purposes under a bilateral agreement between the German and Nigerian governments. Sir Ahmadu Bello, the then premier of the Northern Region planned to make it Nigeria’s primary livestock production centre 

(2) As we all know, the Germans do not do incompetence. When established, MCR had a full compliment of modern infrastructures, facilities and machinery that could match what prevailed in Europe or anywhere else in the world at the time 

(3) In 1974, MCR was handed over to the government of the then North Western State, as Mokwa is currently in Niger State and unfortunately it began going downhill from then onwards. Were we a people who care about ourselves, we would be looking to revive such facilities rather than pursue ill advised nonsensical fantasies like Ruga

(4) When established, MCR was designed to set an example when it came to producing healthy cattle as the livestock there were supposed to feed off molasses produced at the nearby Sugar Company in Jebba. Its total land area was 6,885 hectares out of which 2,780 were prepared for grazing and cropping and 4,108 hectares remained as rangeland

(5) With a total capacity of 10,000 hectares by 1973, MCR had a herd of 3,000 cattle. The whole idea was to have it grow into a huge ranch as is the case in countries like Australia, Argentina, Canada, USA, etc where ranches produce meat for the local market and export 

(6) Trust the Germans to be scientific in everything they do, MCR carried out investigations in pasture establishment and came up with a novel feeding plan. Its Green Panic Grass which covered 200 hectares could be harvested six times a year in the rainy season and fed 3,000 cattle as of at 1973. The German management of MCR had no time for silly politics like Ruga, which was never going to get off the ground as for starters, it requires that abrogation of the Land Use Act 

(7) Being the vandals that we are, trust us to ruin everything. Once MCR was handed over to us, it began a downward spiral and kept closing. It kept closing and opening as successive ignorant Niger State governments tried to get it going but alas, it shut again for the last time in 2004. What kind of ignoramuses cannot run a common cattle ranch for heaven’s sake? Are we really they dumb, ignorant and unintelligent?

(8) As we speak, the MCR facility is owned by a private consortium but they have no idea about how to get it up and running. Failures of MCR are attributed to several issues including rising obsolescence, the negative impact of macro-economic instruments such as foreign exchange rates, inflationary pressures, interest rates and poor management

(9) If the Buhari administration was sincere about expanding meat production, increasing cattle numbers and ending nomadism, this is the kind of project it would be encouraging state governments to revive. Just imagine what our beef output would be if we every one of Nigeria’s 36 states had an MCR

(10) Nigerians have a way of destroying all of nature’s gifts with our incompetence, short term greed, nepotism, limited foresight, knack for taking shortcuts and intellectual laziness. Running facilities like MCR is not rocket science but alas, some of the imbeciles running our country today would rather see livestock roaming across the country alongside AK47-wielding herdsmen as if we are still in the 18th century. I would bring back the Germans to run MCR personally. Maybe seeing it run successfully would open the eyes of our people to how things should be done