News

Livestock Farming: The Untold Story

Published

15 years ago

July 4, 2010

The last is yet to be heard about how livestock farming is inherently dangerous to the ecosystem, especially drinking water supplies in developing countries.

Indeed, livestock farming the world-over has in the recent times generated public discourse. This follows the discovery that livestock production poses palpable health hazards to the health of humans.

Before now, livestock farming was globally accepted as a good means of boosting economic development and food sufficiency among settlements in developing nations. This, to a great extent, spurred the governments and agencies of some developing countries to give regular assistance to livestock farmers, through the provision of incentives and credit facilities to enable them break-even as well as beef up their economic advancement.

However, disturbed by the way and manner livestock production is being practiced in developing nations, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), an affiliate of the United Nations (UN), has cautioned against the establishment of livestock farms in urban centres and in areas close to residential houses.

In one of its recent reports titled, “Livestock Policy Brief”, the UN agency observed with dismay that industrial livestock production in developing nations often causes “severe environmental damage”, especially when meat and dairy factories are crowded around cities or close to water resources.

Indeed, the report asked the governments and the various authorities in developing countries to create incentives for more environmentally friendly dairy and meat production practices, since meat and dairy products have become more widely available in many developing nations.

To halt the unguided livestock farming practices across developing countries, the authorities must evolve regulatory policies and taxes that could discourage the concentration of livestock farms close to residential houses in urban centres as well as cities.

Yes, governments and agencies in the developing countries, including Nigeria, must take seriously the FAO’s caution against livestock farming, in order to safeguard the health of their citizens.

Besides, there is need for authorities in the developing world to put livestock production in check because it is a known fact that major forms of pollution associated with manure management is usually found in intensive livestock production.

What’s more, livestock production in urban areas should also be discouraged because of what has been described as the ‘leaching’ of acid and disease-producing organisms into ground-water, which often threatens drinking water supplies in some developing nations”.

Although livestock production creates vast quantities of manure in developing world, it has also been discovered that the supply of nutrients from livestock farms, damages soil fertilizer. This is why experts are also calling for caution in application of livestock production manure on crops.

Again, another danger in livestock production in the developing world borders principally on the fact that fragile ecosystems such as wetlands, mangrove swamps and coral reels are destroyed.

Therefore, authorities in the deveoping country must now begin to beam their searchlights on livestock farmers in the rural areas. Why? Because livestock farming is done in the most crude manner in the rural communities.

Indeed, it behoves the governments at all levels and other stakeholders to monitor the activities of livestock farmers, operating in the urban centres. That way, disease-producing organisms into groundwater, which is now threatening drinking water supplies will, in no mean way, be halted.

That said, it is imperative to enact laws that would reduce the establishment of livestock farms in urban centres in order to safeguard the health of the people and the ecosystems.

News

NELFUND Warns Students Against Fake Loan Portal

Published

21 hours ago

November 19, 2025

The Tide

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund has alerted the public to a fraudulent message circulating online, claiming that the NELFUND Student Loan Registration Portal is open.

The message directs applicants to a third-party link (http://gvly.xyz/Nelfund-Student-Loan, which NELFUND confirms is unauthorised and fraudulent.

In a post obtained from its X handle, yesterday, NELFUND urged students and the general public not to click on the link or provide any personal information, emphasising that the official loan registration portal is only accessible through the Fund’s verified channels.

The agency reminded applicants to exercise caution online and to report any suspicious links or communications claiming to be from NELFUND.

“Applicants are encouraged to always verify official announcements via NELFUND’s official website and social media channels,” NELFUND said.

This advisory comes as part of NELFUND’s ongoing efforts to safeguard students and ensure the integrity of the student loan application process.

News

Eastern Port Police Boss Promises On Crime-Free Operations

Published

22 hours ago

November 19, 2025

The Tide

The new Commissioner of Police Eastern, Ports Command, Mr Tijani Fatai has promised to ensure a crime- free ports operations in the zone.
He said effective policing will be mounted across the ports in the zone in tackling the high rate of community unrest, activities of port rats and other social vices.
Fatai while speaking to newsmen shortly after taking over as the 17th commissioner said he wants to be remembered as a peace maker during his tenure as Commissioner of Police in the Eastern Ports Command.
According to him,’’the community policing is the sure way of addressing most conflicts and other social vices bedeviling our society today and I will explore it to its fullest” .
The Commissioner also assured officers of the rank and file of improved welfare whoch he described as a cardinal objective of the present efforts of the Inspector General of Police (IGP).
He said,” the Inspector General of Police has sent me to assure you all of welfare, promotions as and when due,no officers particular rank and file will be left behind in the coming months.
Fatai before his recent posting was an operational officer,who spent most of his years with the Police Mobile Force (PMF) where he served as Unit Commander (UC) and Commander, PMF.
Before his redeployment as a Commissioner of Police,(CP), he was the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Operations, DCP, Operations, Lagos State Command.

News

Kalabaris Celebrate New Year Amid Fanfare

Published

22 hours ago

November 19, 2025

The Tide

Thousands of Kalabari indigenes from Akuku- Toru, Asari-Toru, Degema and Port Harcourt City Local Government Areas last Sunday gathered at Elem Kalabari in Degema Local Government Area to celebrate what they said is the Kalabari new year amidst pomp and pageantry
According to stakeholders, the event which started over 200 years ago normally falls on the 16th of November every year.
The of this year’s celebration which was organised by Kalabari Renaissance Foundation was “Our Heritage, Honouring Our Waters and Renewing Our Spirit.”
Stakeholders said this year’s celebration was symbolic as it was holding at Elem Kalabari which is the home of the Kalabari people.
The event also featured various masquerade displays from cultural troupes within Kalabari and beyond.
Speaking on the significance of the event, the Amanyanabo of Elem Kalabari (The Source), HRH Mujahid Asari Dokubo, said the celebration signaled a return to the traditional values of the Kalabari people and the need for self-recreation.
“It’s not just about celebration, It’s about recreating ourselves, bringing us back from death.
“The organisation that has come to take over this celebration – Renaissance – really fits the description of what ought to happen to us as a people.
“It’s not just Kalabari; it’s about all of us and our values. We have to look at ourselves and our values,” he said.
Dokubo called on all Kalabari citizens to join hands together to revive their traditional values and heritage in order not to lose their cultural identity and spiritual trajectory.
Also speaking, Harry Awolayeofori MacMorrison, Chief Administrator and Chairman of Kalabari Renaissance Foundation, organizsers of the Kalabari new year festival, said the event marks the beginning of a new calendar year for the Kalabari people, after November 15 of every year when the tide cleanses the pollution from the Sombreiro River inflows, describing it as a renewal of the Kalabari people.
“It’s the renewal of the people. Kalabari area is saline environment and at a time, the Sombreiro River comes in and pollutes the river.
“On the 15th November, across Kalabari, the tide turns and takes all the fresh water that polluted the saline river back to the Sombreiro River
. “On the 15th is the end of the year. Normally when there is an end, there is a new beginning. On the 16th (November) is the beginning of the Kalabari calendar,” he said.
Awolayeofori Mac Morrison said the Kalabari communities had been holding the new year festival separately in the past until the Renaissance Foundation decided to champion a unified celebration to enable them forge a common front of trado-cultural and socio-economic development across the entire territory.
He said last year’s event held at Abalama while they decided to bring this year’s celebration to Elem Kalabari because of it significance to the Kalabari nation.
Also speaking, a member of the planning committee and media lead, Journalist Ibiba Don Pedro, said there was need to reawaken the consciousness of their people on the need to embrace their traditional values without reservations, noting that there was nothing fetish about the festival.
She said the celebration was to unite the Kalabaris as well as project the cultural heritage of the people.
Don Pedro said time has come for Africa to go back to their root , adding that development will continue to elude African countries until the people rediscover themselves.