Newsbreak: Presidential committee proposes Open Grazing to end farmers-nomads’ clash

Report will lead to further violence, says Yoruba group

By Ologeh Joseph Chibu and Omolade Adegbuyi

The presidential committee set up by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on livestock reforms has recommended open grazing.

In a swift reaction, Alliance for Yoruba Democratic Movements, AYDM General Secretary, Mr. Popoola Ajayi described the recommendation as “destructive and retrogressive.”

He said the recommendation by the committee “enhances Fulani interests and subverts the wish and inspirations of indigenous peoples in Nigeria.”

He said the committee did not visit anyone in Yorubaland nor indigenous peoples in Northern and Southern Nigeria.

“The report is what Yoruba call Agbeleko, written in the bedroom of a few people. They didn’t listen to the people, the Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Iteskiri, Idoma, Tiv, Igala, Ebira, Angas,Birom farmers. The recommendation for open grazing is a recipe for greater violent clashes in Nigeria. It shows that the ruling class is adamant to destroy the country, “AYDM said.

Nigeria has the sixth largest cattle herds in Africa with 21 million as Ethiopia tops the list with 70.3 million herds of cattle; Chad: 32.2 million herds of cattle; Sudan: 31.8 million herds of cattle; Tanzania; 28.3 million herds of cattle; Kenya: 21.7 million herds of cattle; Nigeria; 20.7 million herds of cattle.

In the other countries, ranching is adopted to prevent farmers-herders’ clashes.

This was contained in the report submitted to President on Thursday.

The committee led President Bola Ahmed Tinunu as Chairman has Prof Attahiru Jega, former Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) as the Secretary.

The Committee recommended “integrated solutions” to the address the menace of farmers-herdsmen violent clashes.

In the past one decade, thousands of people have lost their lives in related violence which has sparked arms race between contending parties.

Tinubu had set up the committee last year December with himself as the Chairman to tackle relentless clashes between farmers and herdsmen.

The committee was set up after an earlier report from the national conference on livestock reforms and mitigation of associated conflicts was submitted to Tinubu.

The President later set up the Federal Ministry of Liverstock which was a key outcome of the conference.

Jega on Thursday said the committee proposed “integrated solutions” to the pastoral related conflict

He said Nigeria must combine open grazing and ranching to solve the challenge of farmers and herders’ crises in the country.

He said the best option was the adoption of both ranching and open grazing with a term limit.

He said increasing awareness against about pastoralism should be encouraged.

Jega said “You cannot wake up tomorrow, and all you have is ranching because you have already had quite a large chunk of the population in traditional pastoral activities,” Jega said.

Speaking further to State House correspondents in Abuja he said “What do you do with them? Any solution that has to be developed now has to be a combination of both.

“Why we are promoting a long-term objective is that we now have livestock production. You have to develop policies and frameworks that can accommodate both for a period of time.

“The objective is to have intensive livestock production and not to have extensive in the nature of pastoralism that we have now.”