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FG inaugurates first national pilot ranching programme in Adamawa

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The federal government has inaugurated the first National Pilot Ranching Programme at the Gongoshi Livestock Grazing Reserve in Mayo-Belwa Local Government Area of Adamawa.

Inaugurating the project on Saturday, the minister of livestock development,  Idi Maiha, described it as a major step towards transforming Nigeria’s livestock sector.

The pilot scheme is to be implemented in five states, comprising Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa, Kaduna and Adamawa, as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Mr Maiha said the initiative was part of the federal government’s efforts, under President Bola Tinubu’s administration, to develop livestock production centres across the country.

“This is the first of the pilot projects we are inaugurating as part of the efforts, under the able leadership of President Bola Tinubu, to develop livestock development centres across the country.

“The Gongoshi Grazing Reserve has been willingly allocated by the Adamawa Government for the development of this centre. It was not an imposition.

“We did not take or grab anybody’s land. The Adamawa government willingly, and on its own volition, allocated this land,” he said.

The minister said the Adamawa government had allocated approximately 9,600 hectares for the project, “which is being implemented through the Livestock Productivity and Resilience Project (L-PRES), with support from the World Bank.”

He said the project would be implemented through a partnership between the Federal and state governments and eligible private-sector partners.

According to him, Adamawa had selected dairy, beef, fodder, sheep and goats as priority value chains under the programme.

Mr Maiha said infrastructure already provided at the reserve included a solar-powered borehole and livestock drinking troughs, while additional facilities would include schools for children of nomadic pastoralists and an upgraded veterinary facility.

Earlier, the national coordinator of L-PRES, Sanusi Abubakar, said Gongoshi was one of five pilot grazing reserves being developed by the ministry.

Mr Sanusi said the resuscitation of grazing reserves required collaboration between the Federal and state governments.

“The main purpose of resuscitating the grazing reserve is to reduce the radius of movement of livestock farmers.

“By doing so, we will have greater peace and improved collaboration between livestock farmers and crop farmers,” he said.

The national coordinator added that a weather station had also been established at the reserve in collaboration with the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet).

Mr Sanusi said the ranching programme was designed to produce quality pasture, seeds, hay and forage.

He added that the ranching projects would create employment opportunities in cultivation, harvesting, processing and veterinary services.

“This project creates direct opportunities for our youth and local communities,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of the Adamawa government, the chairman of Mayo-Belwa Local Government Council thanked the federal government for establishing the project in the state.

He assured that the state government would provide adequate security to protect the equipment and other facilities at the pilot ranching reserve.

Several large and intermediary livestock farmers and associations from Adamawa, Taraba, Gombe and Bauchi states graced the inauguration.

(NAN) 



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Coronation: Plateau Traditional Ruler Pledges Peace, Unity

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By Emmanuel Yatai

Chief Amos Mbah, the newly installed Adiye-Ruma Kadung, has pledged to promote peace, unity and development among his people in Plateau.

Mbah made the pledge on Saturday in Pankshin during his coronation as the traditional ruler of the Kadung people in Pankshin and Kanke Local Government Areas (LGAs).

He described the coronation as a solemn covenant with his people, promising to serve them and protect their interests and aspirations.

“My coronation serves as a covenant of peace, unity and prosperity for the Kadung community,” he said.

The traditional ruler said his vision was anchored on unity, resilience and progress, stressing that sustainable development required collective commitment rather than reliance on traditional authority alone.

“As true power lies not in the title I bear, but in the collective strength of our hard work,” Mbah said.

He urged the people to become active partners in building a community whose achievements would benefit present and future generations.

Mbah also pledged to complement the efforts of the current administration in promoting peaceful coexistence among different tribes and ethnic groups within his domain.

Earlier, Mr Emmanuel Yizo, Chairman of the Kadung Development Association (KDA), Pankshin/Kanke branch, described the coronation as a landmark development for the community.

Yizo said the installation was the first of its kind in the two local government areas, in spite of the association’s longstanding existence.

“This association has been in existence for a very long time, but it is the first time we are installing the Adiye-Ruma Kadung for the Pankshin and Kanke LGAs,” he said.

He explained that the traditional ruler would serve as custodian of the Kadung people’s culture, customs, traditions, norms and values across the two local government areas.

Also speaking, Chairman of the council, Mr Felix Gonung, described the occasion as historic, timely and symbolic.

Gonung, represented by his deputy, Mr John Dasar, commended the Kadung people for uniting to install a leader to guide their community toward progress.

He urged the people to support the new traditional ruler, stressing that traditional leadership required cooperation and collective responsibility.

“To all Kadung sons and daughters, leadership cannot thrive in isolation. I charge you to give His Royal Highness your unalloyed loyalty, maximum cooperation, and constructive support to succeed,” Gonung said.

He also urged community members to remain peaceful, hardworking and law-abiding, describing these qualities as essential to the Kadung community’s reputation.

Gonung charged Mbah to justify the confidence reposed in him by leading with wisdom, humility and fairness.

The coronation marks a significant step in the formal traditional leadership of the Kadung people across Pankshin and Kanke LGAs. (NAN)

Edited by Kamal Tayo Oropo

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Microsoft’s Satya Nadella says AI models need an ‘emergency brake’

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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is the latest tech executive to offer lengthy thoughts on how AI safety might be improved.

In a Saturday morning post on X, Nadella wrote that it’s time “to step back and assess the trust architecture” of AI.

“We can’t treat Super Intelligence as a set of nested black boxes and simply accept or reject its recommendations, answers, and actions,” Nadella wrote, using the Trump administration’s preferred term for AI. 

As outlined by Nadella, this approach “means separating the model from the harness that orchestrates its work,” as well as “externalizing controls and safeguards.” He also called for “every meaningful model action” to be documented with “tamper-proof human readable evidence,” and for systems where “an authorized person” always has the ability “to pause or shut down a model mid-task.”

“We must assume a model is compromised and contain it from the start,” he said. “Think of it like an emergency brake.”

Nadella’s comments come as leading AI companies acknowledge more and more incidents where they seemed to lose control of their models, and after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published a plan for more cautious AI development.

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