The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to implementing evidence-based policies that will modernise Nigeria’s livestock sector and position it as a key driver of national economic growth.

The Honourable Minister of Livestock Development, Idi Mukhtar Maiha, reiterated this position on Friday, 12th December 2025, when he received Her Excellency, Philda Nani Kereng, High Commissioner of the Republic of Botswana to Nigeria, during a courtesy visit to the Ministry in Abuja.

He emphasised that the nation can no longer rely on outdated systems but must embrace structured reforms that support productivity, enhance value addition, and create sustainable livelihoods for farmers and livestock value-chain actors.

“The Botswana experience is a major inspiration. Your nation has achieved in 50 years what the world continues to study, and we are interested in domesticating many of those lessons,” the Minister said.

“Nigeria, as the largest market in Africa, is ready to expand its livestock sector to compete globally, while also partnering with Botswana to accelerate the journey,” he added, noting the country’s unique success in exporting beef to Europe, managing transboundary diseases, and integrating technology in livestock traceability.

He stressed Nigeria’s readiness to learn from Botswana’s model, especially as the Ministry moves to rehabilitate and modernise 417 grazing reserves across the country into structured ranching ecosystems.

In her remarks, the High Commissioner highlighted Botswana’s five-decade success story in beef production and export to the European market, describing it as a product of deliberate policies, strong governance structures, and extensive farmer support systems.

She explained that Botswana’s livestock sector grew from a rural development model that prioritised agriculture, backed by policies and laws enabling farmers to produce high-quality cattle for livelihood improvement and national economic growth.

Her Excellency noted that Botswana’s beef sector, second only to diamonds in national revenue, thrives on strict disease-control systems, communal land management, targeted veterinary interventions, and highly subsidised farmer support programmes.

She outlined several areas where Botswana is prepared to collaborate with Nigeria, including beef quality improvement through enhanced genetics, modern abattoir practices, disease management, veterinary protocols, vaccine production, livestock traceability and grazing management.

Nigeria’s Supreme Court on Friday overturned the presidential pardon granted to Maryam Sanda, the Abuja housewife convicted of stabbing her husband to death in 2018, reinstating her original death sentence by hanging.

Sanda, 37, was sentenced to death in January 2020 by Justice Yusuf Halilu of the FCT High Court for culpable homicide punishable with death after she fatally stabbed Bilyaminu Bello during a heated domestic dispute over alleged infidelity. The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction in December 2020, and the Supreme Court affirmed it in 2023, exhausting her appeals.

In October 2025, President Bola Tinubu initially granted Sanda a full pardon as part of clemency extended to 175 convicts, citing her family’s pleas for the sake of her two children, her good conduct in prison, and remorse. However, amid public backlash, the administration revised the decision, commuting her sentence to 12 years imprisonment on compassionate grounds.

The Supreme Court’s 4-1 majority decision, delivered by Justice Moore Adumein, dismissed Sanda’s final appeal as meritless. Adumein ruled that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt, affirming the lower courts’ findings that Sanda’s actions constituted intentional murder.

Crucially, the apex court held that the executive branch’s exercise of pardon powers under Section 175 of the 1999 Constitution was invalid in this instance, as Sanda’s appeal was still pending before the judiciary at the time of the grant. “It was wrong for the Executive to seek to exercise its power of pardon over a case of culpable homicide in respect of which an appeal was pending,” Justice Adumein stated in the lead judgment.

The dissenting justice argued for upholding the commutation, emphasizing humanitarian considerations for Sanda’s children and her time served—over seven years at Suleja Medium Security Custodial Centre.

The ruling has reignited national debates on the separation of powers, domestic violence, and the application of the death penalty. Sanda’s family expressed devastation, while Bello’s relatives hailed the decision as long-overdue justice. Rights groups decried the outcome, calling for legislative reforms on prerogative of mercy.

Sanda remains in custody pending any further legal maneuvers, though options appear exhausted. The Attorney General’s office confirmed investigations into the pardon process’s procedural flaws.

•Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo

Bayelsa State Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, is dead,aged 60.

Ewhrudjakpo collapsed yesterday while descending a staircase shortly after a meeting in his office .

He was immediately taken to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Yenagoa.

Hospital sources disclosed that he arrived unconscious and was moved to the Emergency Unit before being transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and efforts to revive him failed.

His media aide, Doubara Atasi, confirmed the incident but did not provide further details.

Sympathizers stormed the hospital in large numbers after the news broke, forcing security personnel to tighten control around the facility.

Ewhrudjakpo was born on September 5, 1965. He had served as deputy governor since 2020, represented Bayelsa West in the Senate, and previously held the position of Commissioner for Works.

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary Ini Ememobong confirmed the demise of the deputy governor, which it described as inexplicable.

Senator Ewhurudjakpo, 60, an associate of Senator Seriake Dickson, was one of the elected officials, who insisted on remaining in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and refused to defect with Governor Duoye Diri to the All Progressives Congress, APC, recently.

Ewhrudjakpo, once a close political ally of Governor Diri, reportedly fell out with his principal after refusing to follow him in resigning from the PDP on October 15.