Stakeholders Push Livestock Sector As Key To Global Market Integration

Bennett Oghifo

Livestock production has been identified as a critical pathway for integrating Nigeria into global supply chains, as stakeholders at a high-level forum in Abuja intensify discussions on building a more competitive, transparent and investment-ready sector. The three-day meeting has drawn producers, processors, financiers and policymakers seeking to unlock profitable opportunities in pastoral systems amid rising global demand for safe and nutritious animal-based foods.

The forum, organised by the African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) under its Africa Pastoral Markets Development (APMD) Platform, is part of a four-year initiative supported by the Gates Foundation to transform pastoral economies into market-driven, inclusive and resilient systems. With the theme “Facilitating Private Investment in Pastoral Market Systems through Structured Financing Partnerships and B2B Marketmaking,” the gathering is focused on brokering deals, strengthening supply agreements and rebuilding trust across a fragmented livestock value chain.

Discussions come at a time when the sector faces mounting pressures from climate change, disease outbreaks, environmental degradation and tightening consumer standards. Participants stressed that Nigeria must urgently strengthen regulatory enforcement, improve animal welfare practices and develop sustainable financing models to remain competitive in both regional and international markets.
The project consultant, Umaru Hassan, noted that livestock farming is not only a vital source of protein but also the livelihood of hundreds of millions of farmers. To this end, he said the forum needs to evolve profitable financing models anchored on transparency and sustainability.

He emphasised the need to transform livestock systems to contribute to healthier and more sustainable food systems. The Director General of the Kano Livestock Training Institute, Jazuli Muhammed Bichi, called for the adoption of rigorous animal welfare and slaughter guidelines across abattoirs, warning that current practices in local facilities fall far short of the standards required to guarantee wholesome meat for public consumption.

Bichi said the reform effort must begin long before an animal reaches the slaughter floor.
“During this workshop, we are making emphasis on the use of following strict guidelines for the slaughter of animals, which starts right from the issue of feed — what kind of feed are you giving the animals, what is the welfare status of the animal when it is slated for slaughter,” he said.

Bichi stressed that animals should be housed in the abattoir for at least a full day before slaughter to allow for proper welfare assessment and preparation. “An ideal situation is for animals to be one day in the abattoir before slaughter at least, so that you can look at the welfare, give enough water with little feed, so that when you slaughter you will have a very good and better bleeding activity,” he explained.
He was particularly critical of the rough handling that remains commonplace in many local facilities. “You don’t start beating animals like that, the way they do in our local abattoirs. You have to safeguard their welfare — it’s one of the criteria for very good meat production,” Bichi said.

The Director General also highlighted the critical role of thorough bleeding during the slaughter process, describing it as a key public health safeguard. “The bleeding component is ideal because it’s one of the best methods of removing all the blood from the animal’s body, so that you can stop the multiplication of bacteria within the blood system. This will improve the quality of the meat you are producing,” he noted.
Beyond the slaughter process itself, Bichi underscored the necessity of rigorous post-mortem examination of every carcass. “You need to study system by system how the animal performed, what are the signs or symptoms of any disease situation, so that you can do partial condemnation or total condemnation, or declare it unfit and unwholesome for consumption,” he said, adding that “these practices are what is seriously required for any meat to be certified as wholesome and of good quality.”
Reflecting on the significance of the workshop, Bichi expressed cautious optimism about its potential to drive lasting change across the sector. “It’s a very important milestone,” he said. “If we are to follow the whole dictate of what is expected and what needs to be done, then we are in a very good start for the whole livestock industry in Nigeria.”

The workshop forms part of broader ongoing efforts to modernise Nigeria’s livestock value chain and bring local abattoir operations in line with internationally recognised animal welfare and food safety standards.

The Managing Director , ABAT CBD Limited, Raymond Olalekan Odulate, raised fresh alarm over the continued operation of unrecognised slaughterhouse slabs across the country, warning that the illegal facilities are draining state governments of significant revenue that is instead ending up in private hands.
Speaking on the matter, Odulate, whose company owns and operates the Abbateo abattoir in Lekki,Lagos said the root of the problem lies in the compromised state of some government officials who have allowed unlicensed slabs to continue functioning outside the law.

“Revenue that is supposed to go to legal state governments is going to private pockets because the officials have been compromised,” he said.

Odulate drew a sharp contrast between the practices of licensed operators like his company and those running unrecognised facilities, stressing that compliance with regulation comes at a cost that illegal operators simply bypass.

“We pay taxes, we pay for our licence, and we pay dues on every cattle that we process in our Abbateo to governments,” he stated.

He argued that the existence of illegal slabs creates an uneven playing field while simultaneously depriving government coffers of legitimate income. The Managing Director noted that the situation is not merely a regulatory gap but a structural problem — one that governments are practically powerless to address so long as these facilities remain outside the legal framework.

“There is no way governments can go to slaughterhouse slabs that are not recognised and demand for revenue from them because they’re not recognised,” Odulate explained.

The Private Sector Engagement Expert , AU-IBAR, Mohammed Eidie, explained that the Abuja forum was deliberately structured around business-to-business matchmaking, bringing pastoral producers and feedlot operators face-to-face with off-takers and financial institutions to generate concrete, bankable deals.

“We are here to do something different. The APMD Platform exists to ensure that market-driven transformation in pastoralism is not left to chance. What we are facilitating in Abuja is the infrastructure of trust—the handshakes and contracts that make a sector function.”

According to him, the platform is working across three pillars: strengthening private sector participation, improving policy environments and building robust data systems to support investment decisions, while integrating gender inclusion, youth employment, nutrition and climate resilience into its design.
“The outcomes we are targeting are specific and measurable—more supply agreements, new financing partnerships, and actionable policy reforms. When this works, it becomes a template that can be replicated across other pastoral economies in Africa,” he added.

The Policy Pillar Lead at APMD, Prof. Ahmed Elbeltagy, said the initiative is positioning Nigeria for stronger economic growth through deeper private sector participation and stronger market linkages.
“The livestock sector holds immense potential and offers significant growth opportunities. Private sector-driven transformation will enhance Nigeria’s competitiveness in regional and international markets while strengthening food security and reducing poverty,” he said.