*Stops Fresh Moves To Create Grazing Routes
*Proposes National Summit To Curb Conflicts
THE Senate witnessed a heated plenary on Tuesday, May 21, with president of the 9th Senate, Ahmad Lawan (APC, Yobe North) in the 10th Senate, on Tuesday, May 21, clashed with Senators Titus Tartengar Zam (APC, Benue North West) and Victor Umeh (LP, Anambra Central) disagreeing over the recurring farmers/herders clash that has led to the death of thousands of Nigerians and cows over the years.
While Lawan made case for the herders, saying government has not been fair to them by protecting their livestock business, worth N30trillion; hence they are left to their fate grapple with rustling of their cows and the danger of being attacked roaming across the country, Zam and Umeh said a ban on open grazing is long overdue, as they moved for ranching to be made mandatory.
This came as the senate opposed moves to reintroduce grazing routes for herders as panacea for the menace, following an amendment to prayers in a motion on matter of urgent national importance raised by the senator representing Kogi East, Isah Jibrin, on the recent killings by herdsmen in some communities within his constituency.
Rather, the Red Chamber unanimously passed a resolution to set up an adhoc committee to convoke a National Summit to find lasting solutions to the constant farmers-herders clashes across the country.
Jibrin informed his colleagues that Omala Local Council has been under recurring attacks by gunmen, leading to killings and destruction of properties and farmlands, a development that had rendered many of his constituents homeless, with no means of sustenance.
He expressed worry that Agojeju Odo, Ajokpachi Odo, Bagaji and Bagana communities had been ravaged by recent gunmen attacks, rendering over 30,000 inhabitants homeless, with inhabitants moving to other parts of the state.
He specifically stated that on April 5, this year, armed herders invaded Agojeju Odo, Ajokpachi Odo, Bagaji and Bagana communities, killing 21 innocent citizens, including women and children, in addition to unprecedented destruction of their farm produce, while on April 30, gunmen also attacked Ajokpachi Odo community in Omala Local Council, killing no fewer than three persons and rendered the entire community desolate, with no health facility to cater for the deteriorating health conditions of the survivors.
He said the attacks resulted in the killing of over 500 citizens, in addition to wanton destruction of public and private properties worth hundreds of millions of naira.
The Senate observed a minute silence for the departed souls in Omala Local Council of Kogi State and urged the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, as well as National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to assist the affected communities with relief materials and other forms of support necessary for their rehabilitation.
Umeh, while contributing to the motion on the vexed issue, recalled that in the 8th Senate: “We saw a lot of these in Nasarawa, Taraba, parts of the North and the same headers are still ravaging; they are now in Kogi.
“So, I think that an action should be taken to ban this type of migrant grazing across Nigeria. We must have to do things the way they are done in civilised nations. Ranching has been proposed to put our cattle in confined settlement and nature them, breed them and produce meat.
“In England, nobody sees these things on the road. It is only here that every morning, headers will invade a community and kill persons, torch their house, displace them and we have no solution to it.
“Nigerians should find how to put an end to this score of headers displacing people in their ancestral home, because they bring their cattle down, move into people’s ancestral lands, while they are sleeping, they kill them, burn their houses and we get this report continuously and these herders are still moving around.
“Let us find a way of putting an end to it. By legislation, we should ban migrant grazing. If we put a law and ban it, anybody who is moving around with cattle will be running foul of the law on the road, how much more into people’s farms. They destroy people’s means of livelihood, burn down their school facilities and they go away, nobody is talking on how to apprehend them.
“Our inability to rein in headers activities in Nigeria has been responsible for this destruction of lives and properties, by making it illegal for anybody to move cattle round the country, but should create ranches.
“About 500 people have so lost their lives in Omala, as reported in this motion. Who will bring these people back to life? Are we saying that people can be killed for us to eat the meat? Who will eat the meat, when those that will eat the meat are being killed on daily basis? This is a barbaric type of farming, we should be courageous to put an end to it.”
Lawan admitted that the clashes between the herdsmen and farmers is a very long-standing phenomenon, saying there is no section of the country that has not suffered from the menace
“Most of it is happening in the North. So, for me, the issue is security issue as much as it is economic issue. When we discuss this, we should have no hold barred. We should say it as it is, because we are looking for solution.
“Things I may say may not be pleasant, but I am convinced that they will help us get lasting and enduring solutions. We must continue to protect the lives and property of our citizens
“This is the most important essence of government, like we all know, but like one of our colleagues said, Mr. President, the history of how the herdsmen, particularly the Fulani, have been doing it. Here you have a people who don’t have any means of livelihood, but rear animals.
“And like we all know, certain things happened. Animal or livestock or cattle rustling, many of them lost their cattle. And of course, we know that they don’t know any other thing.
“The livestock industry is worth N30trillion, so this is a very important industry, and we cannot neglect it while we deal with those who kill our people. We must be looking at the possibility, the necessity and imperative of making government, the federal government particularly, to see how to resuscitate the lives and livelihood of those who are willing to remain within the boundaries of the rule.
“Somebody will tell you, well, it’s business. What can be more business than banking? Government gave banks the opportunity, some of them will steal money and today we are neck deep in AMCON.”
He also kicked against the DisCos whom government gave money after they bought over the enterprises, saying: “All 11, even after they were sold and privatised, government was still giving them money, up to N1.4trillion. Why should we do that?
“This livestock industry is a major industry. We have to have a way and a life-line to be able to conduct a regional summit.”
He urged Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, to lead the senate to have a national summit on livestock development and the attendant insecurity that we face, noting: “I don’t know when those who know better will sit and come out with something. But let me conclude, I believe that we have to be very decisive in funding our security agencies to protect our people and their property.
“But I also believe that government should have a responsibility by providing something to protect the lives of the people who didn’t do anything but try to care for their animals.”
Zam said: “If you listen to me from the tone of my voice, you will know that I am bleeding internally as a result of some of the reactions that have accompanied this motion from my brother.
“All over the world, what guides human behaviour is enabling laws. The law can determine whether our behaviour is right or wrong. The senate is the highest law-making institution in this country.
“The issue of farmers, herders crises has defied all security efforts. The only option that is yet explored is that of having a law prohibiting open grazing in a country. Once you have that law in place, those who engage in animal husbandry will know that it is unlawful to carry animals from Zamfara to Makurdi and along the way kill everybody on the route leading to wherever you want.
“Once that law is not there, then everybody becomes free to carry arms and move freely into other people’s communities, because some people have advantage of being in power in this country and the advantage of developing themselves economically, so that they are able to amass weapons that they now use to terrorise other parts of this country.
“And we will begin to justify that by saying other institutions, other people have misconducted themselves, then we are inherently justifying the killing of innocent people by those who engage in such acts.
“I, therefore, suggest that open grazing prohibiting law must be enacted by this senate, so that those who engage in animal husbandry will be compelled to go by way of ranching and the animals will be kept in one place.
“There is no reason whatsoever, if we have laws governing other aspects of our life, what is difficult in this senate stopping this movement of animals and killing by people that accompany those who carry these animals in this country.
“I want to say here that I will bring a Bill that will control animal husbandry in this country by way of going towards ranching. We don’t have as much cows in Nigeria as we have in the United States (US), for example, but the animals are ranched and people don’t have this problem.
“So, how come we have got few animals in this country and we are going around killing people?”
