In one of his final interviews before his passing, Chief Audu Ogbeh, the former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, provided revealing insights into his 2019 removal from President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet.
The elder statesman’s candid reflections, recorded days prior to his death on Saturday but published posthumously by Trust TV, exposed the contentious reception of his agricultural reforms.
In the interview, Ogbeh recounted how his innovative proposal to introduce high-yield grass seeds for controlled grazing – a solution designed to simultaneously resolve farmer-herder conflicts and revolutionise Nigeria’s dairy production – faced unexpected hostility.
His measured tone in the interview belied the frustration of seeing scientifically-backed policy met with what he described as uninformed criticism and personal attacks.
“When I was minister, I saw the problem of cattle rearing and I said I was going to bring improved grass seeds to plant in specific places so that the cattle don’t have to roam. Cows don’t like roaming; they are heavy animals with short legs. They want to stay in one place, graze, drink water and produce milk. But here, you see them going around eating plastics,” he said.
In the interview apparently carried out days before his death, Ogbeh explained that his ministry had brought into the country the grass, but Nigerians’ “negative attitude” hindered the project.
“They don’t know anything about it, they go on air, they abuse, they call you names,” he lamented.
He revealed that the current Minister of Livestock Development had also acknowledged that “the problem is water and grass, nothing else.”
According to him, nomadic herding is not a cultural preference but a necessity for herders seeking food for their livestock.
Ogbeh also cited an existing ECOWAS Agreement allowing cross-border grazing between West African countries, but stressed that Nigeria’s failure to establish designated grazing areas had worsened the situation.
He argued that well-managed ranches could boost milk production from two liters to as much as 20 liters per cow daily, reducing the country’s reliance on expensive dairy imports.
“These are the ideas I had, which made me enemies. Strangely enough, that is why I didn’t return in 2019. I was told that I knew too much,” Ogbeh revealed in the interview.
The death of Ogbeh was announced on Saturday by his family who confirmed that the elder statesman died peacefully, adding that details of the funeral arrangements would be communicated in due course.
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