* Our position irreversible, Akeredolu declares
President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed a strong resolve to address the conflicts of herders and farmers permanently, but not without chiding the Southern Governors’ Forum for their recent ban on open grazing, which he described as an act of questionable legality. The president further accused the governors of politicking with serious security issues and an attempt at a show of power.
The presidency’s position on the matter was contained in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, insisting that the governors’ resolution during their meeting, which held on May 11 in Asaba, Delta State, is a violation of the constitutional right of Nigerians to live and do business in any part of the country, irrespective of such citizen’s state of origin.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, had last week Wednesday compared selling of auto spare parts in the North to open grazing of cattle in Southern Nigeria, which drew the ire of Southern governors, senior lawyers and other socio-political organizations.
Weighing in on the matter for the first time on Monday since the resolution was made two weeks ago, President Buhari, however, assured that the associated problem of the gun-wielding “killer herdsmen” would be tackled.
Shehu, in the statement, recalled that Buhari approved measures to bring an end to the skirmishes as recommended by Sabo Nanono, the Minister of Agriculture, in April.
President Buhari had according to Shehu approved a number of specific measures to permanently end the frequent skirmishes as recommended by the Agric Minister in a report he submitted and the President signed off on it back in April, well before the actions of the Southern Governors’ Forum.
The president’s spokesman alleged that the Asaba Declaration, which moved to place a ban on open grazing “and other acts of politicking were intended by its signatories to demonstrate their power.
“It is very clear that there was no solution offered from their resolutions to the herder-farmer clashes that have been continuing in our country for generations,” he said.
However, the President noted that “citizens of the southern states – indeed citizens of all states of Nigeria – have a right to expect their elected leaders and representatives to find answers to challenges of governance and rights, and not to wash their hands off hard choices by, instead, issuing bans that say: ‘not in my state.’
“It is equally true that their announcement is of questionable legality, given the Constitutional right of all Nigerians to enjoy the same rights and freedoms within every one of our 36 states (and FCT) -regardless of the State of their birth or residence.
“Fortunately, this declaration has been preempted, for whatever it is intended to achieve and Mr. President, who has rightly been worried about these problems more than any other citizen in consultation with farmers and herders alike, commissioned and approved an actionable plan of rehabilitating grazing reserves in the states, starting with those that are truly committed to the solution and compliant with stated requirements.
“With veterinary clinics, water points for animals, and facilities for herders and their families, including schooling – through these rehabilitated reserves, the Federal government is making far-reaching and practical changes, allowing for different communities to co-exist side-by-side: supporting farmers to till their fields, herders to rear their livestock and Nigerians everywhere to be safe.
“The entire country is acutely aware of the strain the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on public finances, for both Federal and States. Still, given the pressing urgency of addressing the perennial challenges, the federal funding for the project that has been delayed is now being partly unlocked. Actual work for the full actualisation of the modern reserve system in a few of the consenting states should take off in June,” he said.
But Ondo State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, reiterated on Monday that the ban is irreversible.
He spoke at the 2021 Nigerian Bar Association (NBA-SPIDEL) annual conference in Ibadan.
“The southern governors at our meeting in Asaba took a decision. We want to say that the decision is irreversible and we are maintaining it.
“Although for one reason or the other, I couldn’t attend the All Progressive Congress (APC) Southwest leaders forum meeting, I am happy that meeting supported our position in that respect.
“The response of Attorney General of the gederation Abubakar Malami in an interview, for me is most uncalled for. That has shown his own mindset.
“We call on the Federal government to come out and assist people in so many fields. Animal husbandry is another form of farming. If you are spending money on those who are involved in rice cultivation, why can’t we spend money on those who are involved in animal husbandry.
“The only way we can do that is to take them off this anachronistic way of having to herd cows from Kaura-Namoda to Lagos. It does not make sense. Not in this century.
Akeredolu
“It is for us to encourage ranching. The federal government should assist those who want to establish ranches, so that all these animals you want to ranch would come in trains and you bring them to ranch where they would be better fed and people would go there to buy.
“Ondo state would do ranching. The National Livestock programme is so important. States that are interested let them be involved in ranching and the federal government should support it.
“Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State has been very forthright in the matter saying that he also supports the ban on open grazing in many ways without mincing words.
“You see a herder and how poor he looks and his herds is worth millions. Then there are some problems. He remains poor and herding animals that are worth millions; Which means he is being used by other people. It means the cows don’t belong to him. If they belong to him, he is a millionaire.
“It is time they found a new way of rearing these animals so that nobody starts trekking from Sokoto to Lagos looking for food,” he emphasized.
He said Malami’s comparison of auto spare parts selling with cattle rearing is most unfortunate.
“All these people, all the Bororos, we are not asking them to leave. What we are saying is that we are opposed to criminality and we would fight it with what we have. People would enter our forest, they would kidnap our people and we would just keep quiet? We would not accept it.”
