By Emeka Okafor
The apex socio-cultural umbrella of Northern Nigeria, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has welcomed the decision of the Southern Governors’ Forum in Asaba, Delta State, to ban open grazing of cattle in the region .
ACF, however, called on the Federal Government to urgently adopt the Governor Umar Abdullahi Ganduje’s formula to check the ECOWAS movement protocol to end the influx of foreign herders into the country.
The forum in a statement on Monday by its chairman, Chief Audu Ogbeh, said, “the ACF does not see any reason to object to a decision taken in the best interest of all.”
Ogbeh, an immediate past Minister of Agriculture in the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, noted that the ban on open grazing alone would not solve the problem until amendment was done to the ECOWAS treaty.
The ACF chairman stated that the rising insecurity challenges was already posing serious threat to the nation’s food security.
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“the fact of the matter is that, the crisis emanates from the belief by most herdsmen that they are free to enter any farm, eat up the crops and rape or kill any one raising objections. Nobody or society can accept that.
“The current high price of garri is one obvious reason of this behavior. Few cassava farms cannot grow to maturity before it is harvested by the farmers. So, food security is already being threatened”, he said.
He maintained that the bulk of the clashes being recorded between farmers and herders were caused by foreign herders who used the ECOWAS Treaty on free movement to cross into Nigeria to cause crisis with their hosts.
Ogbeh stressed, “The bulk of the violent herders are the ones marching in from neighboring African countries in large numbers, thousands at a time and showing no regards to boundaries whether State or regional. They have to be stopped.
“Therefore, the Umar Abdullahi Ganduje formula must be adopted to stop the entry into Nigeria of cattle from West Africa. The solution is for Nigeria to seek an amendment to Article 3 of the ECOWAS protocol especially as regards the free movement of cattle and other livestock without special permits.
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“If this is done, we have over 5 million hectares of land in old grazing reserves left, enough to accommodate over 40 million cows if well grassed and watered.
“Northern governors should immediately look into this and see the viability. Within those spaces, ranches can be developed for lease to Nigerian herders so that this matter can be brought to an end. Thereafter any herders found roaming can be penalized.
“Our ECOWAS neighbours can find ways to deal with their own issues the way they deem fit. We can seek support from AFDB, the World Bank EU or the Kuwait Fund or any source willing to support us in resolving this problem. Hurling abuses, trading suspicion and threatening warfare as is currently the trend will only produce grief and disaster.”
