MIXED REACTIONS AS NGF PROHIBITS OPEN- GRAZING.
herdsmen & farmers
ERIC ADAH
The clashes between armed Fulani herdsmen and farmers has generate serious issues in the country. This has claimed many lives, houses destroyed and farm produce all been destroyed. Not less than 5 million people have been sacked from their ancestral homes in the 21 states of the country, which includes Benue state, Plateau state, Nassarawa state, Kogi state, Niger state and Kwara state all from the middle belt region. While Taraba and Adamawa state from the north east, also from the north west include Kano, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto and Kaduna state. From the south west they are Osun Ekiti, Ogun, Ondo and Oyo states. While the south east is affected through Enugu and Ebonyi states. Delta state has also received its own share of the attacks from the south-south region of the country.
However many State Houses of Assembly have moved to enact a law in their various states prohibiting open grazing in their states in other to profer a solution to the clashes but their effort were thwarted by the government are the center.
So far, only Benue states where the clashes were mostly heated that the people stood firmly that a bill be enact to stop open grazing in the state. In a swift reaction, Governor Samuel Ortom in 2017 signed into law the prohibition of open grazing in the state which has yielded a positive result.
However over 100 fulani herders were been arrested and charge to court also over 30,000 cattles were been confiscated for violating the law of open grazing.
In February this year, the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), led by their its chairman His Excellency, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti state and his counterparts in Kano and Sokoto state respectively described open grazing as an outdated method of rearing cattles. The governors forum all calls on the national assembly to enact a law prohibiting open grazing in Nigerian, they also call on the normadic herders to embrace ranches as the best global practices of rearing cattles
Reacting to decision a traditional ruler in logo LGA Zaki Agber Tyoakaa who is also a victim of a crisis expressed happiness about the decision and said it we help put to an end the crisis between farmers and herders in the country as the federal government we be fully involved in enforcing the law and it we be no longer be the responsibility of Benue state alone to enforce the law
Mr Agber also said it we also help the Fulani herders to put an end cattles rustling which most at times they accused the community of rustling their cattles which result into clashes between farmers and herders.
Also in a chat with a Fulani cattle rearer in Bauchi state Alhlaji Masari who transported his cattles to north bank cattles market in makurdi for sales express displeasured about the high level of discrimination they are facing in the country from their sourthen brothers and he called on the security operatives to go against criminals that are carring out this attacks in the country. Masari stated that even then the fulanis are facing series of attacks in the country and he call on Nigerians to stop generalizing that all fulanis are terrorist.
About the issue of ranches he said the method is new, strenge and money consuming to them so they have to carry out a pilot study to see how it we be effective.
According to the FAO, the word has 1.468 billion head of cattle.
Brazil has the largest cattle inventory in the word followed by Indians and China
The united state has the fourth largest cattle inventory in the world behind china and ahead of Ethiopia.
The ranking shows-Brazil-211,764,292 (14.43%)
India-189,000,000(12.88%)
China-113,500,000(7.73)
While Nigeria occupy the 14th position with the total of 20,000,000(1.36%)
It will interest you to know that all these nations that top the list of rearing cattles are practicing ranches. To end the clashes between farmers and herders in Nigerian, the herders most adopt ranches as a method of rearing cattles.
