Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, representing Nasarawa West Constituency in the National Assembly observes that feuds among Nigeria’s famers and herdsmen usually arise from disputes over the use of resources such as farmland, grazing areas and water.
In an interview, he solicited community engagements in providing ways of resolving such conflicts to pave way for mutual understanding among feuding parties.
He recalled that the House of Representatives recently invited all stakeholders to a public hearing to address what it described as “incessant clashes between herdsmen, farmers and their host communities’’.
He said that although the loss of lives in many of the clashes was worrisome, some elements in the society had laced the development with sentiments.
“For instance, the call on the Fulani to leave a certain part of the country is uncalled for because every other Nigerians live elsewhere other than his or her towns across the country.
“The situation can be better managed but some people create mischief, alleging that the clashes are rampant more than ever; and they even liken it to genocide.
“The solution is not for the herdsmen to leave the communities. There are a lot of political intrigues attached to the development and some people create mischief out of it.
“Some elements want to create an impression that the clashes between herdsmen and farmers are prevalent in the present administration forgetting that from time immemorial, before democracy, herdsmen and farmers have been fighting,’’ he said.
He advised that Nigerians must collectively resolve to tackle the challenge with utmost sincerity of purpose and patriotism.
In the light of this, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Audu Ogbeh recently said that states had provided hectares of land for the establishment of ranches to curb clash between farmers and pastoralists in their states.
He listed the states to include Plateau, Kaduna, Kano, Gombe, Katsina, Taraba, Niger, Adamawa, Jigawa, Sokoto and the FCT, among others.
“The way forward is to strive to attain self-sufficiency in animal protein by checking constant exposure of our cows to long distance trekking in search of pasture which affects their productivity.
“This administration has therefore set out to establish ranches to be planted with high quality improved tropical grass and legume species.
“We shall provide irrigation for all year commercial fodder production to enhance settlement of pastoralist and ensure cattle, sheep and goat improvement through an expanded breeding programme that would use artificial insemination,’’ he explained.
Analysts note that the Federal Government must have reason for keeping the pastoralists in established nets, preventing them from one point to another in search of green pastures.
They also observe that it is safer to curtail the movement of the cattle since such movement often results in the destruction of crops and clashes between the herdsmen and the farmers.
To sustain this initiative, Dr Mohammed Ahmed, immediate pass Chief Executive Officer of the National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, Plateau, said a successful bid for ranches should involve mass investments from governments and other stakeholders.
“Ranches are capital intensive; government must ensure that there is enough water and all-year-round grass for grazing.
“The herdsmen must also be encouraged to cut grass in the rainy season and store same for use during the dry season in addition to being educated on how to manage limited space.
“I am not sure that the typical Fulani man in Nigeria will happily embrace a ranch, but with the current realities, settling them in one place is the best way out, especially if they can have what they want where they are settled,’’ he said.
In his view, Dr Sylvester Akut, a specialist in livestock medicine, said the regional body such as ECOWAS must encourage other West African nations to establish their grazing fields or ranches.
According to him, this will control the movement of cows and sheep from in and out of Nigeria, especially since herdsmen from neigbouring nations have often been accused of causing conflicts with local Nigerian farmers.
“It also means that the Nigeria Immigration Service must come in to check herdsmen’s illegal entries into Nigeria because one nation cannot carry the whole burden.
“It is true that some of these countries are very dry, but their governments must be supported to establish ranches or grazing reserves using the River Niger that passed through their nations.
“From experience, the herdsmen/farmers clash is a bit complicated and requires all hands on deck.
“I will suggest that government must ban night grazing immediately the ranches are established because that is common among foreign herdsmen.
“Such night grazing is usually dangerous because the cows and the herdsmen cannot different between the grass and the crops,’’ he said.
In spite of this, Alhaji Sale Bayeri, the spokesman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) in Plateau, the umbrella body of the Fulani herdsmen, said: “the herdsmen will not accept ranches; we shall prefer to explore our traditional grazing routes/reserves.”
In a presentation by its National Legal Adviser, Mohammed Bello Tukur, MACBAN suggested that stakeholders should rather demarcate routes and cattle resting points with support from technical and financial partners.
“MACBAN rejects the setting up of ranches and support the establishment of grazing reserves; we want government to create a ministry of livestock development to ease the establishment of the reserves,’’ he stated.
In the same vein, Sen. Jerry Useini, who represents Plateau South, where the ranch for Plateau is to be established, said that he was opposed to its establishment because there was no consultation before the decision was taken.
“We just woke up and heard that cattle ranches will be established in parts of Plateau. Such decision cannot be popular because no one was consulted and neither was any wide enlightenment carried out,’’ he said.
Sharing a different sentiment, Gov. Samuel Ortom of Benue said “the ranches remain the generally acceptable practice and will serve as the permanent solution to the unending clashes between the herdsmen and farmers.’’
Similarly, Mr Timothy Golu, who represents Pankshin/Kanke/Kanam in the House of Representatives, agreed that ranches were better options but insisted that some issues ought to be addressed.
“Ranches are far better than grazing reserves if we are to check incessant clashes between farmers and herdsmen, but we must be able to listen to what the ordinary farmers feel about what is being worked out.
“We must carry the farmers and traditional rulers along in carving out the affected areas. We must carefully work out and ensure payment of compensations, otherwise we shall only be breeding another recipe for even worse crises,’’ he said.
Malam Adamu Palna, a farmer in Mangu, also said: “If we want these schemes to succeed, we must involve the very local farmer because it is he that knows where the shoe pinches.’’
In his view, Gov. Simon Lalong of Plateau said: “no human policy or plan can be perfect, but we want those with reservations about the ranches to suggest something better.
“It is not enough to just oppose what is being worked out since what we are doing is in the interest of peace.’’
Argument for or against ranches notwithstanding, the Minister of Interior retired Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau warned that herdsmen/farmers’ clashes were a threat to national peace.
“The effect of this conflict has been loss of life, dislocation of people and communities and the disruption of socio economic activity.
“Even more importantly, it is a threat to the integrity and peaceful co-existence of the Nigerian state.
“The objective, therefore, is to identify any laws and regulations that impact on the conflict, this will in turn inform the design of a definitive policy intervention,’’ he said.
By and large, concerned citizens urge Nigerians to always demonstrate understanding, love, tolerance, accommodation, perseverance and patriotism to eliminate communal conflicts and develop the nation.
