The Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, a factional umbrella body for
herdsmen in the country, has said it is opposed to the ban imposed on open
grazing of cattle by South-West governors. It said the enforcement of the ban
was tantamount to an eviction notice.
This is however against the position of the Miyetti Allah
Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, which at a meeting with some governors
in Akure, the Ondo State capital, on January 25, said it agreed with the
position of the governors.
The meeting in Akure was attended by the Chairman of the
Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi;
Governors Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun State, Muhammad Badaru of Jigawa State,
Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State and Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State. MACBAN was led
to the meeting by its chairman, Alhaji Muhammadu Kiruwa, among other attendees.
Apart from South-West governors, governors in the South-East
had previously banned open grazing and movement of cows on foot into the
South-East.
But in an interview with PUNCH, the Secretary
General of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Saleh Alhassan, said on Friday, “They
can’t put an end to open grazing by fiat because grazing is not motorcycle
business; there must be an alternative. Secondly, if they say they are going to
end open grazing, what is the timeline for it?
“They want to displace herders from where they earn their
livelihood. It is not different from an eviction notice – it is just putting
the eviction notice into effect. This is very unfortunate because they cannot
come out to say they are embracing peaceful herders and then say they are
ending open grazing. What do they mean by that? Is there closed grazing?
“From history, right from the time of Moses, grazing is
open. By now, they should realise that they will not get the result they are
looking for. We are in total support of the National Livestock Transformation
Plan. I was part of the committee that reviewed the final document. The
programme has a lot of components, and if implemented, it will address a lot of
challenges.
“Look at Benue State and how the approach has created a
militia. You can’t end open grazing by fiat as if someone is looking for a
crisis, and these crises have a way of reverberating.”
Alhassan argued that asking herdsmen to stop open grazing
and begin ranching was tantamount to asking farmers to begin mechanisation,
without which they wouldn’t be able to do their farming activities.
He added, “If they say herders must begin ranching today,
where is the ranch? For someone to develop a ranch, they need at least three to
five years for it to mature. The facts are there. Ranches cannot be created
overnight but they are just playing politics.”
On the issue of insecurity, he said herders had been victims
of rustling and kidnapping and that if insecurity was to be addressed, it was
not by making it an ethnic issue, because according to him, there are criminals
in every ethnic group.
“It’s sad, because at the end of the day, we end up radicalising
the herders,” he said. “When they are radicalised, who will benefit? The
country will suffer worse insecurity. That’s why we are against this issue of
eviction or ultimatum because it doesn’t work like that. There have not been
proper laws at the national level to address these challenges and the National
Assembly is just playing to the gallery. Let there be proper laws.”
He said if there had been an increase in the herders moving
from the North to the South, it could be due to climate change, insecurity in
the North-East, drought caused by environmental factors or Boko Haram.
“All these need to be properly addressed via articulated
policies. Politicians should address their differences; they should leave the
herders alone, they are in the bush dealing with all kinds of challenges,” he
added.
When reminded that Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State,
who is also a northerner, had canvassed the restriction of the movement of
herders from the North to the South, Alhassan said, “That is where I disagree
totally with the Kano State governor. Are they going to stay inside his house
in Kano? You must create space for them and not to just talk.”
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