Open Grazing Must End — ACF

…. Backs Southern Governors

The mouthpiece of Northern Nigeria, the Arewa Consultative Forum
(ACF) has expressed support for the call of the Southern Governors
to ban open grazing of cattle.

ACF Chairman and immediate past Minister of Agriculture, Chief
Audu Ogbe in a statement on Monday said, “the ACF does not see any
reason to object to a decision taken in the best interest of
all.”

According to him, “the fact of the matter is that, the crisis
emanates from the belief by most herdsmen that they are free to
enter any farm, eat up the crops and rape or kill any one raising
objections. Nobody or society can accept that.

“The current high price of garri is one obvious reason of this
behavior. Few cassava farms cannot grow to maturity before it is
harvested by the farmers. So, food security is already being
threatened.”

Chief Ogbe however said there is the need to advise the
governors in all states not to think that merely banning open
grazing will end the crisis, stressing that “The bulk of the
violent herders are the ones marching in from neighboring African
countries in large numbers, thousands at a time and showing no
regards to boundaries whether State or regional. They have to be
stopped.

“Therefore the Umar Abdullahi Ganduje formula must be adopted to
stop the entry into Nigeria of cattle from West Africa. The
solution is for Nigeria to seek an amendment to Article 3 of the
ECOWAS protocol especially as regards the free movement of cattle
and other livestock without special permits.

“If this is done, we have over 5 million hectares of land in old
grazing reserves left, enough to accommodate over 40 million cows
if well grassed and watered.

“Northern governors should immediately look into this and see
the viability. Within those spaces, ranches can be developed for
lease to Nigerian herders so that this matter can be brought to an
end. Thereafter any herders found roaming can be penalized.

“Our ECOWAS neighbours can find ways to deal with their own
issues the way they deem fit. We can seek support from AFDB, the
World Bank EU or the Kuwait Fund or any source willing to support
us in resolving this problem. Hurling abuses, trading suspicion and
threatening warfare as is currently the trend will only produce
grief and disaster,” he stressed.

…. Backs Southern Governors

The mouthpiece of Northern Nigeria, the Arewa Consultative Forum
(ACF) has expressed support for the call of the Southern Governors
to ban open grazing of cattle.

ACF Chairman and immediate past Minister of Agriculture, Chief
Audu Ogbe in a statement on Monday said, “the ACF does not see any
reason to object to a decision taken in the best interest of
all.”

According to him, “the fact of the matter is that, the crisis
emanates from the belief by most herdsmen that they are free to
enter any farm, eat up the crops and rape or kill any one raising
objections. Nobody or society can accept that.

“The current high price of garri is one obvious reason of this
behavior. Few cassava farms cannot grow to maturity before it is
harvested by the farmers. So, food security is already being
threatened.”

Chief Ogbe however said there is the need to advise the
governors in all states not to think that merely banning open
grazing will end the crisis, stressing that “The bulk of the
violent herders are the ones marching in from neighboring African
countries in large numbers, thousands at a time and showing no
regards to boundaries whether State or regional. They have to be
stopped.

“Therefore the Umar Abdullahi Ganduje formula must be adopted to
stop the entry into Nigeria of cattle from West Africa. The
solution is for Nigeria to seek an amendment to Article 3 of the
ECOWAS protocol especially as regards the free movement of cattle
and other livestock without special permits.

“If this is done, we have over 5 million hectares of land in old
grazing reserves left, enough to accommodate over 40 million cows
if well grassed and watered.

“Northern governors should immediately look into this and see
the viability. Within those spaces, ranches can be developed for
lease to Nigerian herders so that this matter can be brought to an
end. Thereafter any herders found roaming can be penalized.

“Our ECOWAS neighbours can find ways to deal with their own
issues the way they deem fit. We can seek support from AFDB, the
World Bank EU or the Kuwait Fund or any source willing to support
us in resolving this problem. Hurling abuses, trading suspicion and
threatening warfare as is currently the trend will only produce
grief and disaster,” he stressed.