The federal government and the African Union Inter-African Bureau of Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) are collaborating to strengthen safe market-linked livestock mobility in the African region.

The partnership also seeks to create a region where livestock movement is safe and orderly.

The Minister of Livestock Development, Idi Maiha, stated this at the Continental Learning Forum on Market-Linked Transhumance Models in West Africa on Thursday in Abuja.

The theme of the forum is “Strengthening Safe, Orderly, and Market-Linked Livestock Mobility through Evidence, Cross-Regional Learning, and Investment Partnership.”

Mr Maiha said the presence of stakeholders reflected a shared commitment to developing a resilient livestock sector in West Africa.

He said Nigeria’s livestock sector is undergoing a strategic transformation driven by the Renewed Hope Agenda under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu.

Mr Maiha said the establishment of the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development by Mr Tinubu reflected renewed national resolve to develop the sector and broaden its contributions to national development.

”The goal is to increase productivity by strengthening veterinary services, breed improvement, and stimulating private sector investments along the entire value chains,” he said.

He said AU-IBAR is implementing several initiatives that are positively impacting the sector not only in Nigeria but also across the African continent.

Mr Maiha assured that Nigeria is prepared to learn, collaborate, and team up with sister countries in West and Central Africa, in particular, and the entire African continent for shared growth and prosperity.

”The potentials of the livestock industry are enormous, and the future of its development in West Africa depends on our collective ability to build systems that are scientifically sound, economically viable, and socially inclusive.

”Together, we can shape a West Africa where pastoral mobility strengthens markets, where veterinary systems protect livelihoods, and where livestock development contributes to national and continental growth,” he said.

In a remark, the director of AU-IBAR, Huyam Salih, said the forum’s theme reflected the evolving needs and realities of pastoral systems across Africa.

He was represented by Ahmed Elbeltagy, the policy pillar lead, African Pastoral Markets Development.

Mr Salih said the forum sought to transform pastoral corridors into economic corridors, where livestock movement is safe and where disease-control systems operate across borders.

He said the forum also sought pastoral corridors where information flows efficiently and where pastoralists and private-sector actors both benefit from predictable rules and functioning markets.

Mr Salih said the ECOWAS Transhumance Protocol and the 2018 Regulation on Transhumance form one of the continent’s most advanced legal foundations for regulated cross-border mobility.

He said that, despite this progress, implementation remained uneven, constrained by coordination gaps, insecurity, fragmented policies, and insufficient investment in mobility-aligned market systems.

He said that the forum is not only about analysing policy; it is about shaping the future.

“It is about ensuring that mobility is not seen as a problem to be controlled but as an economic and ecological system that must be strengthened, formalised, and linked to markets.

” It is about transforming pastoral corridors into economic corridors, where livestock movement is safe and where disease-control systems operate across borders.

”It is also where information flows efficiently, and where pastoralists and private-sector actors both benefit from predictable rules and functioning markets,” he said.

(NAN)