Sen. Daniel Saroh, a former Senator, on Thursday, said Nigeria must exploit its diversity to fast-rack the social and economic development of all sections of the country.
Saroh, who represented Benue North-East in the Senate, said current secessionist agitations would only roll back what was built for decades and would not augur well for the country.
“No one stands to gain by instability,” he said in an interview, in Kaduna.
He noted that recent quit notices issued by various groups across the country were recipe for instability and must be stopped.
Saroh said what Nigeria needed was unity of purpose and political stability to be able to address its developmental challenges.
“We do not know where this destabilisation action will lead us; let us allow our diversity to strengthen our unity, let us be our brother’s keeper.”
He stressed the need for leaders to speak out against violent tendencies that would create instability in the country.
The senator also spoke on calls to develop grazing reserves and ranches to support herdsmen and reduce current stripe involving free movement of livestock.
According to him, what is most important is for government to evolve a deliberate policy to develop pasture to feed livestock.
“I mean Nigerian should grow suitable grass for pasture and also conduct research, buy seeds from other countries, Brazil, Australia, Canada, USA and other countries in East Africa.
“The government doesn’t need to import the grass, but should get the seeds and grow it in Nigeria and allow it to sterilise.
“It will take several years, but that should be a step in the right direction.
“The commitment should be to develop the land, plant the grass and provide dams, boreholes, so that herdsmen don’t have to travel hundreds of miles away from their area, because this is the problem that Nigeria has.
“We have more than 20 million cattle in Nigeria and more coming from other countries and no food for them.
“Nigeria must also develop a system to support the herdsmen and help them to raise food for their herds.
“We must develop an industry to produce dry grass and sale it; we should not be killing ourselves for cattle to get access to grass.”
Saroh, however, commended the Federal Government for its efforts to ensure improvement in the area of Agriculture.
According to him, the support should be sustained, so that farmers can improve their yield, expand their production base by acquiring more land to invest. (NAN)