The Federal Government has
introduced the use of biometric registration to monitor the movement of people,
goods and livestock into the country.
The Minister of Interior,
Abdulrahman Dambazau, said this on Thursday in Abuja at a special town hall
meeting to address farmers/herdsmen crisis.
Dambazau said the move had become
necessary as a result of the ECOWAS free movement treaty which Nigeria is a
signatory.
He recalled that a conference was
recently organised within the ECOWAS sub-region to review ECOWAS Protocol on
the free movement of goods, humans and livestock.
“60 per cent of the people in
West Africa are Nigerians. You need to know the number of Nigerians who cross
the borders to other countries to look for livelihood.
“It is important for us to see
how we can create a balance between the implementation of the protocol and the
security of our borders.
“We have introduced the use of
biometrics in other to ensure that we take account of every person that comes
into Nigeria,’’ he said.
Dambazau appealed to the media
and citizens to look at the crisis between farmers and herdemen as a national
issue and quit attaching sentiment into the issue.
On the proliferation of light
weapons, the minister said that the Nigerian Police was currently asking people
to openly declare their arms.
He said that at the expiration of
the grace period, the police would condone suspected areas and forcefully get
the arms out and prosecute those illegally handling them.
“We have given directive and this
is why you see the police going from place to place asking people to declare
their weapons.
“We have given this grace after
which we will go out and condone suspected areas, get the weapons out and even
prosecute those illegally handling them,’’.
The Minister of state for
Environment, Alhaji Ibrahim Jibril, called on the state governments to work
together in addressing the crisis.
Jibril stressed the importance of
adequate information and intelligence gathering in addressing the clashes.
He called on non-governmental
organisations, religious organisations to also assist the government in information
gathering to tackle the menace.
“We have what it takes to solve
this problem now because if we pass it to our children, they will never forgive
us,’’ he said.
Similarly, Chief Audu Ogbeh, the
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that farmers and herdmen
crisis was a global issue.
Ogbeh said the government was
currently training agro-rangers through the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence
Corps (NSCDC) to protect agricultural investments.
Meanwhile, stakeholders who spoke
during the meeting appealed to the Federal Government to take decisive and
prompt steps toward addressing the crisis to end loss of lives and properties.
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