By Omoniyi Salaudeen
The Senate is on the verge of enacting a law that will end open grazing, which has been the major source of conflict between the farmers and the herdsmen.
The bill seeking the establishment of a National Animal Husbandry and Ranches Commission has passed the second reading following a heated debate among the lawmakers. When eventually approved by the lawmakers, the new enactment will end the old practice of open grazing in the country.
For so long, the traditional practice of moving cattle from one region to another in search of pasture has claimed so many lives and displaced thousands of people.
The encroachment of cultivated land and crops damaged by livestock have been the major cause of conflicts with farmers. The same reason is also responsible for the frequency of livestock theft by cattle rustlers.
These incessant clashes have been largely concentrated in the Northwestern, Middle Belt, and recently southern states. Among others, Benue, Taraba, Plateau, Zamfara, and Adamawa have been the worst hit owing to the high concentration of Fulani herdsmen in these states. However, due to the complexity of the issues involved successive governments have failed to adopt proactive measures to address the worrisome trend.
While the failure has been partly blamed on population pressure, changes in land use patterns, and resource access, the declining trust between communities have also made traditional dispute resolution rather difficult, thus exacerbating the frequency of conflicts.
In response to the growing trend of violence, some states like Benue, Ekiti, Edo, and Taraba have enacted anti-grazing laws to reduce potential conflicts with farmers.
In Benue State, for instance, the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law passed by the state assembly requires individuals who are not indigenes to follow a multi-step permitting process that includes authorization from landowners. Despite all that, there is no complete elimination of violence in the state.
In May 2021, the governors of the 17 southern states had to issue a joint resolution to ban open grazing in their territories. Some other concerned stakeholders threw their weight behind the implementation of the 2019 National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP), which aimed to improve security and reduce farmer-herder conflict by settling herders in ranches.
To find a lasting solution to the menace, former President Muhammadu Buhari had proposed a 10-year plan to establish ranches across the country, using Adamawa, Benue, Ebonyi, Edo, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Oyo, Plateau, Taraba, and Zamfara states as a pilot scheme.
However, the N179 billion planned project met a brickwall, as many states refused to yield to the Federal Government’s request for land.
The proposed Commission, according to the sponsor of the bill, Senator Titus Tartenger Zam, a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), representing Benue North West, is for “the management, preservation, and control of ranches throughout Nigeria” so as to stem the trend of frequent clashes occasioned by the age-old practice of open grazing of cattle.
While debating the issue, the bill met stiff opposition from lawmakers who had preference for ranches instead of a blanket ban on open grazing.
Senators Danjuma Goje (Gombe Central) and Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central) represented the voices of opposition during the debate of the bill.
The two lawmakers argued that cattle rearing and ranching activities were more in the North than in other parts of the country and as such the law should focus on the entire nation rather than a section of it.
This emotion has been further re-echoed by the Northern Elders Forum.
In a swift reaction to the bill, the group advocated for policies and programmes that would facilitate the transition from open grazing to ranching in a manner that would ensure the well-being of pastoral communities, while also addressing the environmental and security issues associated with open grazing.
In place of the proposed National Animal Husbandry and Ranches Commission, the forum demanded a National Pastoralist Commission to regulate all matters affecting the well-being and interests of all citizens whose livelihoods depend on livestock rearing.
In a statement issued in Kaduna by its Director of Publicity and Advocacy, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, the NEF demanded the proclamation of a National Policy on Grazing and Livestock Development to cater to the needs of all the pastoral communities everywhere in the country.
It reads in part: “In light of the disagreements in the National Assembly on this matter, NEF calls for a collaborative and inclusive approach to decision-making that considers the diverse perspectives and concerns of all stakeholders.
“Meanwhile, the federal and state governments should immediately identify suitable lands across the country and create grazing reserves and cattle routes and, where resistance is shown, to expropriate such land as may be required for the purpose through resort to extant provisions of the Land Use Act and other related laws.
“We propose the proclamation of a National Policy on Grazing and Livestock Development to cater to the needs of all the pastoral communities everywhere in the country.
“We call for the immediate proclamation of a Special Intervention Initiative through the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Ministries of Finance, National Planning, Agriculture and Water Resources, for supporting special livestock development policies and the establishment of special funds to support pastoral communities along the lines of the Anchor Borrowers Programme and other types of Federal Government interventions.
“We call for the immediate setting up of a National Pastoralist Commission to act on all matters affecting the wellbeing and interests of all citizens whose livelihoods depend on livestock rearing.
“Successive governments have found it expeditious to establish structures like OMPADEC, NDDC, Ministry of Niger Delta, the Amnesty Programme, etc aimed at resolving a specific set of challenges affecting specific communities in the South.
“There is, therefore, no justification whatsoever to resist or even question the creation of special initiatives to address the needs of herdsmen if these will lead to lasting peace and stability.”
Already, the bill has been referred to the Senate Committees on Agriculture, Judiciary, and Legal Matters for fine-tuning. Nevertheless, different stakeholders have expressed divergent views on the desirability or otherwise of the proposed law banning open grazing.
A renowned legal practitioner and former member of the National Assembly, Senator Anthony Adeniyi (SAN), discussing the issue with Sunday Sun, expressed optimism that the bill would end the herder-farmer clash.
He said: “One of the reasons we have been having Fulani herder-framer clashes is the issue of open grazing. Whatever we can do to eliminate these conflicts will be acceptable to me. Whatever name we give to it doesn’t matter to me, what is important is the elimination of farmer-herder clashes. Open razing is no longer fashionable in the modern world. So, naturally, I will support any means to eliminate the incessant conflicts between the farmers and the herdsmen.”
Chief Chekwas Okorie, while speaking with Sunday Sun against the opposition of the Northern Elders Forum to the proposed Commission, accused the group of confusing the populace.
His words: “Honestly, I don’t want to sound insulting. But the Northern Elders Forum is a handful group of elders who have never influenced anything in the North. They have always been causing confusion.
“The Northern Elders’ Forum should know that they are speaking for themselves. They should call themselves Fulani Elders Forum because that is who they are. They are not representing the Middle Belt; they are not representing the Hausa who are rooted in Kano State. The battle in Zamfara State is between the Fulani and the Hausa. The Kanuri people also have a different mindset about all of these things. So, they should stop deceiving Nigerians by calling themselves the Northern Elders Forum, pretending to be speaking for the North when we know where the North stands on this issue.
“They should change their name to Fulani Elders Forum. The umbrella body known in the North is the Arewa Consultative Forum. And you can’t see them making this kind of reckless statement because the forum is made up of people from different part of the North. When they speak, people will know that the North has spoken just like Ohanaeze, Afenifere and the Niger Delta Forum. But for these people who call themselves Northern Elders Forum, I want to re-emphasise that their real name is Fulani Elders Forum.
“The Middle Belt people who are also part of that North have been victims of herder-farmer clashes. The Middle Belt is made up of eight states, including part of Kaduna State. The bill was sponsored by a lawmaker from the Middle Belt to underscore the need to rein in these herdsmen who are causing these conflicts.
“So, the bill must be passed urgently and the President should not hesitate to sign it into law because it is one of the things that will reduce these clashes to the barest minimum all over the country, especially in the North. For instance, if we have the bill, it will address the issue of cattle rustling in Zamfara State which is in the Northwest. It is only when you have your cattle moving about that they become exposed to the rustlers, which is part of the causes of the clashes we have been having.”
Also, renowned elder statesman in Kano, Tanko Yakasai, in his perspective on the issue, harped on the need for sufficient funding of the proposed Commission.
He, therefore, urged the National Assembly to go beyond passing the bill and make provision for sufficient funding for its implementation.
“I will support the establishment of the National Animal Husbandry and Ranches Commission because its focus is nationwide. What is important is for the Federal Government to fund the body efficiently so that there will be no delay in implementing what it intends to achieve. In most cases, the government will create a good structure, but is often stuck by a lack of funding. For it to work there should be sufficient funds for the commission. If there is not enough funding, the commission will not take off. So, what is important is for the Federal Government to provide sufficient funds for the take-off of the Commission”, Yakasai said.
Dr Yususa Halidu, All Farmers’ Association of Nigeria, on his part, suggested that the board of the proposed commission should be made up of people who are directly involved in the cattle business.
“I support the idea of creating a commission to oversee the affairs of ranching. It is something we had been expecting earlier. But the government has to be careful in selecting the board of the commission and the objectives of it must also be spelt out to the public.
“Again, the commission should be made up of people who are directly concerned with animal rearing, not those who don’t know anything about the affairs of the cattle business. You can’t bring somebody who is an enemy of herders or animal grazing to head the commission. It will not work. So, they should not use politics to initiate that kind of commission.
“The Northern Elders Forum should allow the commission to be created first and then look at where they can come in to contribute to the ways of caring for the welfare of pastoralists,” he maintained.
