From: Linus Oota, Lafia
National Secretary of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), a socio-cultural association of Fulani, Alhaji Baba Usman, has declared that farmers/herdsmen crisis cannot be completely eradicated.
He said that the crisis was as old as the history of farming and cattle breeding in Nigeria, adding that the two lives together and the complaints of encroaching in farmlands and or killing of cows would continue to surface.
Alhaji Usman stated this, on Wednesday, in Osakashia grazing reserve in Awe Local Government Area of Nasarawa State during an advocacy sensitisation of grazing reserves and stock routes in the state organise by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with MACBAN.
The Miyetti Allah chieftain explained that the herdsmen/farmers crisis has become a security threat to the country, advising that the grazing reserve would go a long way in bringing the situation under control.
He said the crisis has taken a political, religious and ethnic dimensions which led to a lot of killings of innocent citizens.
He cited the example of southern Kaduna where he said that the farmers are predominantly Christians while the herdsmen are Muslims.
He, however, told the Fulani to embrace the Federal Government’s policy on grazing reserve where social amenities such as schools, hospitals, dams and boreholes would be provided within the grazing reserve for the herdsmen.
He blamed past administrations for the endless herdsmen/farmers crisis for neglecting the livestock sector of the economy which largely led to the situation the country is facing today.
Speaking earlier, National coordinator, grazing reserve and stock, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Alhaji Mahmud Ibrahim, who doubles as the team leader for the sensitization, appealed to the herdsmen to embrace the grazing reserve policy of the Federal Government as a solution to end the crisis.
He explained that the budget for the provision of social amenities in the grazing reserves has already been provided in the 2017 budget of the federal ministry of Agriculture and implementation would commence as soon as the budget was pass into law.
Others who spoke at the sensitisation programme were Chairman of All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Nasarawa State Chapter, the traditional ruler of Awe local government, chairman of Awe local government, community leaders and the chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, Nasarawa State Chapter all appeals to their people to embrace the grazing reserve policy of the government to ensure peace.