The Minister of Agriculture and
Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has said the recurrent clashes between
herdsmen and farmers may not end soon.
According to him, permanent
solutions to the conflicts would require a lot of planning and funds, which is
lacking at the moment.
The Minister, who disclosed this
in Abuja while addressing newsmen during the weekend, noted that government was
not leaving any stone unturned in its commitment to engender an ecosystem where
everybody would live peacefully, devoid of clashes and killings.
He said: “I can’t give you a date
when the herdsmen/farmers conflicts will end
“To solve this problem requires a
great deal of planning and expenditure. The budget we have can’t cope; the
state governors must be involved. Other stakeholders who want to keep ranches,
cattle must be involved.
“The ministry would work on
access to land and land tenure security which is expected to address
farmers-pastoralists conflicts.
“The reason for this new approach
is to put this matter before all Nigerians. It’s our problem.
“Quarrelling, hauling abuses at
each other, raising suspicions, anger and all that will not help. We have a
problem, we must solve it and solutions are not that difficult to find.
“A country which has at least 45
million hectares of empty land has no business allowing farmers and cattle
rearers to fight,” he stated.
Similarly, a former Lagos State
Police Commissioner, Abubakar Tsav, backed the Ogbeh on his claim that the
clashes would not go away overnight. He argued that not even the anti-grazing
law, already passed by both Benue and Taraba states, was enough to put an end
to the incessant clashes.
“The anti-grazing law made by
Benue and Taraba states will have no effect because the laws were made in a hurry
an in violation of the rights of the herdsmen. The state governments ought to
have carved out areas as ranches and provide water, veterinary clinics, nets,
schools and so on before making the law.
“They ought to have consulted
widely. Herdsmen have a right to movement under the constitution to carry out
their businesses. By creating ranches, states will improve and expand their
revenue base. A law which has ethnic and religious connotations can only tear
us apart as a people in one nation. The current law without alternative grazing
area is an indirect way of sending herdsmen out of the states.”
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