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Chairman of the Delta Obidient Elders’ Council, Chris O. O. Biose, has faulted the Delta State Government’s proposal to venture into ranching, describing it as “another looming disaster in the making.”

Reacting to recent comments by the State Commissioner for Agriculture, Charles Aniagwu, Biose said government has no business plunging scarce public funds into enterprises that history has shown it cannot sustain.

“Ranching is a private business that could make significant contributions to the state’s economy. But if I understand the Commissioner correctly that government itself plans to run ranches, no rational mind would take him seriously,” Biose declared.

He reeled out a litany of failed state-owned ventures to back his position: the once-thriving Agricultural Development Program (ADP) along the Asaba–Ibusa road now lost to thick bush; the Delta Line transport company which collapsed despite massive investment before being handed over “in cloudy circumstances”; and the extensive palm plantations established in the 1980s, now run down and ceded to private interests.

“Even the well-equipped Skill Acquisition Centre on the Asaba–Benin Expressway has been swallowed by forest,” Biose lamented, warning that the proposed ranching scheme would follow the same path of waste and eventual privatization.

Instead of pouring funds into ventures doomed to collapse, the elder statesman urged Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and Commissioner Aniagwu to redirect energy to supporting local entrepreneurs. He argued that empowering riverine communities with skills and equipment to expand fish farming could close protein gaps more sustainably, while trained Deltans could be assisted to run ranches if government provided enabling infrastructure.

Biose welcomed the idea of rural electrification but expressed fears it might end up as “another propaganda stunt.” He also called for urgent attention to collapsing primary schools, secondary schools, and health centres, which he described as the true foundation of a productive society.

“It is untenable for any patriotic citizen to support another round of waste of public funds on business ventures. The government should perish this ranching idea before it ruins more resources,” he stressed.