Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives has urged the Federal Government to halt the entry of herdsmen from other African countries into Nigeria.
The House also mandated its committees on Police Affairs, Interior and Army to interface with the Inspector General of Police, Chief of Army Staff and the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service on the best ways to police and secure the country’s borders.
This followed the adoption of a motion by Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu, at yesterday’s plenary on the “need to stop the entry of herdsmen from other African countries into Nigeria.”
Elumelu noted that in recent years, herdsmen have been on rampage, destroying farm lands, burning villages and killing innocent Nigerians indiscriminately in many states across the country.
The lawmaker argued that the development had affected food production as farmers in several states could no longer go to their farms for fear of attacks by armed herdsmen.
He said while the herdsmen continued with their reign of terror, the response from security agencies have been poor as they are most often linked to migrants from other African countries.
Elumelu said it was time the Federal Government took decisive steps to halt the influx of these foreigners into Nigeria.
“Those herdsmen who are militant in nature have consistently instilled fear in lives local farmers and villagers living in affected areas by the use of coercion, intimidation, brute force and extreme violence which in most cases leaves a large number of persons dead.
The violent conflicts between the nomadic herders from neighbouring countries and local farmers is escalating by the day to more states of the federation, and if left unchecked will further threaten the security and stability of the nation.
“Further concerned that the clashes are becoming potentially as dangerous as the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East, yet to date, response to the crisis at both the federal and state levels have been very poor and ineffectively.
“It has become necessary to lend a voice to Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State that a stop be put to the movement of herdsmen from other African countries to Nigeria so as to curb the rate of crime and conflicts associated with their movements across Nigeria.”