The National Assembly Joint Committee on Livestock Development said the N11.8 billion proposed for the take-off of the recently created Federal Ministry of Livestock Development was grossly inadequate.

Minister, Mr. Idi Maiha led management staff of the ministry and heads of agencies to the 2025 budget defense to the joint committees of the National Assembly on Tuesday.

GALAXY TV reports that the Minister said that the ministry which took off 3 months ago from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, is yet to have office accommodations, lacked facilities, necessary office and operational equipment to run as a full fledged ministry.

According to him, the ministry is currently being accommodated by the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).

The joint committee asked the minister to harmonize adequate financial needs and re- present in the form of supplementary budget, while promising prompt approval.

They queried the amount of input from the Presidential Implementation Committee for the take - off of the ministry and agreed that the committee will try its best to help the ministry achieve its mandate.

Meanwhile, the federal government has proposed a sum of N10 billion for capital expenditure and N1.8 billion for overhead in the 2025 budget of the ministry.