The Chairman, Senate Committee on Army, Ali Ndume, has faulted
the decision of the Southern Governors Forum to ban open grazing in the
South-West, South-East and the South-South geopolitical zones of the country.
Ndume, who is representing the Borno South Senatorial
District in the upper chamber, stated this while addressing journalists in
Abuja on Wednesday.
He insisted that the issue of open grazing was only causing
insecurity in the North-Central geopolitical zone and some parts of the South-
West.
Senators from southern Nigeria had earlier on Wednesday, expressed
their support for governors from their various geopolitical zones who were
demanding the restructuring of the country and the immediate ban on open
grazing in their respective states.
The governors on Tuesday, after their meeting, announced a
ban on open grazing in all the 17 Southern states.
They also recommended that the Federal Government should
support willing states to develop alternative and modern livestock management
systems.
They called on the President, Muhammadu Buhari to as a
matter of urgency and importance, address Nigerians on the frightening state of
insecurity across the nation and convoke a national dialogue.
The Southern Senators Forum, in a statement on Wednesday,
hailed the decision and resolutions of their governors and pledged to work with
them for the actualisation..
They urged the state chief executives to immediately
approach the leadership of the National Assembly for necessary legislative
input to give their decisions, the required legal backing.
The statement was titled, “Insecurity: Southern senators
commend and endorse the resolutions of the southern governors; urging them to
work with the National Assembly for optimal results.”
It was jointly signed by the SSF Chairman, Opeyemi Bamidele
(Ekiti); Secretary General,
Mathew Urhoghide (Edo) and Publicity Secretary, Chukwuka
Utazi (Enugu).
They said the governors’ engagement with the leadership of
the National Assembly would enable them to work with the two arms of the
parliament to ensure that their well articulated positions on the state of the
nation would be articulated through the ongoing review of the 1999 constitution
being undertaken by both chambers of the federal parliament.
The senators commended the governors for being emphatic on
the issues of restructuring, state policing and the jettisoning of archaic
traditional grazing methods, ‘which fall short of global best practice standard
and a potential threat to our national cohesion and peace.”
However, Ndume cautioned the governors to rise to the
occasion of protecting their citizens instead of engaging in blame games.
The Senator said, “As far as I am concerned, this blame game
will not solve the problem.
“Governors are the Chief security officers of their states,
so, why are they talking about the President without talking about themselves?
“The governors are deviating from the matter. The problem is
not about open grazing. The problem is security. Most of the insecurity
problems confronting Nigeria is not in the bush.
“We have four different types of security challenges. We
have the insurgency in the North-East, IPOB through the Eastern Security
Network is creating insecurity in the South-East, and there is banditry in the
North-West.
“It is only in the
North Central that we have issues of farmers-herders clashes. There is less
problem in the South-West except for the clashes between the herdsmen and the
farmers and the agitators for the Yoruba nation.
“Similarly, in the South-South, they are trying to instigate
the avengers but so far the area is peaceful. The issue of insecurity is unique
to each zone.
“President Buhari has taken charge of the security
personally now. It used to be the Chief of Staff or the Minister of Defence who
was having meetings with the service chiefs but today, the President has taken
charge of the problem.
“That is a good development and I hope we would start seeing
results but the most important thing is for them to be provided with necessary
equipment to prosecute the war and their allowances should be paid in time.”
Buhari should spend workers, public officers’ salaries on
security
Ndume advocated the suspension of salary payment to workers
and other political office holders so that the money could be used to tackle
the security challenges in the country.
He said, “The president should make the issue of security, a
priority. He should leave every other things and concentrate on security.
“That means even if they will stop paying us and use the
money to tackle security. Is it not when you are secured that you talk of other
things? It is not only the politicians but everybody.
“If you know that you cannot move out of your house and they
say sacrifice your salary, won’t you do it?
“Many people are working from home, yet they are being paid.
They should stop paying salaries and address the whole issue of insecurity.
“If you don’t have money, stop paying salaries and
allowances and use the money to provide security,.
“If you are borrowing money to provide infrastructure, why
can’t we borrow money to protect our people.”
Ndume commended the armed forces operating in Maiduguri for
their gallant response to the attack by the Boko Haram on Tuesday evening
around 6pm.
He said, “a group of Boko Haram insurgents wanted to
infiltrate Maiduguri but the armed forces responded swiftly, neutralised and
repelled the insurgents.
“I understand that most of the insurgents were killed. The
Army, Airforce, police and the civilian JTF, played a very significant role in
repelling the insurgents.
“If such reaction from the armed forces is sustained, the
insurgents would be repelled whenever they surface anywhere in the North-East.”
The Senator prayed that the month of Ramadan would bring
peace to the country.
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