From Akwa Ibom to Enugu, from Edo to Delta, from Ekiti to Ondo, from Oyo to Kwara, from Taraba to Nasarawa, from Benue to Adamawa, all States crisscrossing the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria, the heartbreaking stories of herdsmen killing farmers in their farmlands or farmers killing settlers herdsmen are the same.
Successive administration have always advocate the need to diversify the economy from dependent on crude oil. The diversification which emphasis is on agriculture, to create jobs and provide food for the teaming population of Nigeria is being threatened by this clashes which the Federal government have been unable to put an end to, whether it is by tackling either its immediate or remote causes of the violence.
An except in Section-14(2b) of the 1999 constitution of federal republic of Nigeria (As amended) reads, “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government”.
Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, and Taraba State governor, Darius Dickson Ishaku, have all signed into law the Open Grazing Prohibition Bills passed by their various Houses of Assembly, to upheld that section(if not all) of Nigeria’s constitution which they swore to while taking their oaths of office.
After Ekiti state signed the anti open grazing bill into law, the Deputy Speaker of Abia state House of Assembly, Mr Cosmos Ndukwe, in a news conference said, the house has commence consideration of a similar Bill in order to arrest the menace of rampaging herdsmen in Abia, though nothing has been heard of it more than a year now.
In Edo state, the government had not yet taken any drastic measure to end the conflict to protect the people, after A Bill for a law to establish the Edo State Cattle Rearing and Grazing Agency, which passed second reading on the floor of the Edo House of Assembly was dumped about two weeks after the assembly held a two-day public hearing on the bill, which received condemnation from several groups.
The state Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, distanced himself from the bill, which the sponsor, Bright Osayande (APC-Ovia North East II), said, was informed by the incessant killing of defenceless farmers and the needless destruction of crops by herdsmen. The criminal activities of these herdsmen he asserted have earned them the reputation of being the fourth most dreaded group, according to the Global Index for Terrorism (GIT).
The Edo state government may have donated cash to the families of victims(Farmers), who were killed by suspected Herdsmen in the state, yet it is not the way to go in a Democratic setting as Nigeria, where laws should be adopted to check insecurity like the state’s Anti Community Development Association law, that has boost investors confidence.
These farmers/herdsmen conflict resulted in the death of 2,500 people alone in 2016, making it potentially dangerous as the insurgency in the North-East, and as these conflicts increase in frequency, intensity and geographical scope, so do their humanitarian and economic tolls exacerbate, according to a report.
Only recently, The president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, before heading for the ‘One Planet’ conference in Paris, France, he posted on his personal Twitter account (@MBuhari), “I’m spending a few days at home in Daura before I travel to France for the One Planet Summit. Today I paid a visit to my farm. I grow fruits & vegetables,& keep cattle. I hope this will inspire one more person to take up farming. My vision is for a country that grows what it eats”.
Judging from the pictures in the President’s Twitter post, the ‘healthy looking’ cattle where in an enclosure, away from the ‘fresh’ fruits and vegetables which will ordinarily encourage Nigerians to go in farming and grow what they eat, but the reality on ground across the country is nowhere encouraging, rather a farmers/cattle rearers fight for survival.
Though Federal Government has begun a nationwide consultations with traditional, religious, opinion and community leaders led by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, towards ending the incessant conflicts in Nigeria, government must rise up to the challenge of awakening law enforcement apparatus to perform their constitutional roles, to protect lives and properties, especially the farmers who are feeding the nation.
The law enforcement agencies need to wake up and rise up to their responsibilities without taking sides in the conflict, if the menace must end, as it would be recalled in October during the burial ceremony of former Chief of army Staff, Victor Malu, which was broadcast live on Channels Television, Benue state governor called the attention of the army to the alleged threat in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area of the state.
“The anti-open grazing prohibition law 2017, which was signed into law will come into effect on November 1. For us in Benue State, we are under threat. But seeing the Chief of Staff here today and all of you distinguished Nigerians, we are encouraged and we know that the God we serve has brought you to also assist us,” Mr. Ortom said.
The threat is not only in Benue state, but across Nigeria, where it is not uncommon to hear a particular religion make references to the jihad of Othman Dan Fodio of 19thcentury and alleged that the herdsmen attacks are a continuation of the ancient religious military campaign to conquer territories.
So far, it is estimated that the country loses about $14 billion annually to these clashes, hence Nigeria authorities should consider the recommendations by the National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTS), amongst which was, conflict mediation, resolution, reconciliation and peace-building mechanisms be established and strengthened within the state and local government levels, and also within rural communities particularly in areas that have been most affected by these conflicts.
More so, the establishment and operationalization of contemporary grazing reserves should be intensified by consenting states to improve in-house livestock production and management in order to minimise contacts and friction between herders and farmers.
The NANTS recommendations also urged Government to further address environmental factors that are driving herders migration to the south, and this will require stepping up implementation of programmes under the Great Green Wall Initiative for the Sahara and the Sahel, a trans-African project designed to restore drought-and-desert degraded environments and livelihoods including in Nigeria’s far Northern belt; and developing strategies for mitigating climate change impact in the far Northern states.
All efforts geared towards putting an end to the greatest threat to Nigeria’s development and economy growth must be deliberate and concerted to avoid communal crisis that usually lead to the destruction of lives and property.
The incidences that readily come to mind are the recent crisis in some communities in Plateau and Adamawa state, where lives were lost including law enforcement officers.
In the words of Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo during his visit to Numan in Adamawa state for a first hand information on the recent communal crisis, He said, “Like I said to the leaders in those communities, anybody can fight, anybody can kill but nobody benefits from killing and loss of lives.
True leaders must bring people together and make progress”.
