Open Grazing: Forum urges Nigeria to ban foreign herders
The Chairman, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Audu Ogbe has advised the Nigerian Government to stop herders from West African countries from entering Nigeria as advocated by the Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.
Ogbeh that the suggestion by Ganduje would help to contain open grazing and farmer/herder conflicts.
Special permit
He said that Nigeria should seek an amendment to Article 3 of the ECOWAS protocol, “especially as regards free movement of cattle and other livestock without special permit.
” If it is done, we have over five million hectares of land in old grazing reserves left, enough to accommodate over 40 million cows if well grassed and watered,” Ogbe said.
The AGF Chariman also urged Northern State Governors to look at the viability of those spaces to develop ranches for lease to Nigerian herders, so that the matter of open grazing can be brought to an end.
He said; “Thereafter, any herder found roaming can be penalised and our ECOWAS neighbours can find ways to deal with their own issues the way they deem fit.”
Seeking support
Ogbe advised Nigeria to seek support from Africa Development Bank, the World Bank, European Union, Kuwait Fund or any source willing to support the initiative, saying ”hurling abuses, suspicion and threats as currently trending, “will only produce grief and disaster.”
He agreed that nobody would accept alleged trespass into farmlands and destruction of crops by herders.
Ogbe said Governors should not think that merely banning open grazing would end the crisis, as the bulk of the violent herders were from neighbouring countries, who have no regards to boundaries, whether state or regional.
He added that those were the herdsmen that must be stopped.
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) is a political and cultural association of leaders in Northern Nigeria formed in 2000 which has considerable influence in the political scene.
NAN/Mercy Chukwudiebere
