Insecurity: Southern Senators commend Governors’ initiative
The Southern Senators Forum (SSF) has commended the 17 Southern Governors from the region for outrightly taking a firm position on burning national issues, including the call for the restructuring of the nation and ban on open grazing of cattle.
The Forum consists of ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Senators as well as their counterparts in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Young People’s Party (YPP).
A statement issued by the Forum and jointly signed by its Chairman, Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti); Secretary General, Matthew Urhoghide (Edo) and Publicity Secretary, Chukwuka Utazi (Enugu), hailed the Governors for the call for speedy restructuring of the Nigerian nation, saying this will also help to remove the venom that had permeated the land on account of alleged neglect of certain sections of the country.
The SSF leaders stated that ushering of equality, equity and justice in the way the country was being run will wipe out ethnic tension, restore peace and stability and ward off agitations for secession that are now gaining tractions across the land.
The Southern Senators also submitted that the unanimous policy of the ban on open cattle grazing would help in reining in those hiding under cattle grazing to unleash the terror of kidnapping and killing on the residents of the region.
They applauded the step taken by the Governors, saying it would serve as a buffer to wanton destruction of farmlands, kidnappings and carnages.
Also Read: Insecurity: South East Governors hold emergency meeting
The Senators lamented how the Southern farmers were losing hundreds of millions of Naira to the plundering of food crops through encroachments on farmlands and exposing the region to famine and acute food scarcity.
“At this critical point of our national life when the economy was being bedevilled by galloping inflation, youth unemployment and insecurity, food security is very crucial to mitigate the effects of these diverse evils on the citizens.
“Available records have shown that attaining food security status would remain a mirage in the south owing to ravaging effect of outdated livestock grazing policy being unleashed on farmlands by some unscrupulous herders.
“Most appalling are the seemingly unabated kidnappings, raping and killing of our people by suspected herdsmen, who have become bandits heating up the system.
“With this uniform resolve by our Governors to initiate no-open grazing policy, the region will return to its peaceful and agriculturally self -sufficient status it had assumed even long before Nigeria’s amalgamation in 1914,” the Forum said.
The Senators encouraged the Governors to swiftly follow up on their resolutions by immediately approaching the leadership of the National Assembly to work together.
The Forum said the National Assembly would ensure that their positions on restructuring, state police and the ban on open grazing were addressed through the ongoing constitution review exercise.
Zainab Sa’id
