THE Federal Government has said that it will soon build ranches and grazing reserves for Fulani herdsmen across the country.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Babachir David Lawal, made this known in Abuja, on Thursday, when he received a delegation of Tabital Pulako Njode Jam Foundation, led by its chairman, Alhaji Abdul Bali, in his office.
He noted that the construction of the ranches and grazing reserves would go a long way in resolving the perennial violence and attacks between the pastoralist and sedentary farmers.
The SGF, however, blamed some of the violence and mayhem meted out to some farming communities on the influx of foreign herdsmen into the country.
Lawal, in a statement issued by the Director of Press in his office, Mr Bolaji Adebiyi, absolved local herdsmen from these horrendous attacks in some parts of the country in recent times.
He said the Federal Government was committed to establishing ranches and grazing reserves across the country as a solution to the incessant clashes between Fulani cattle rearers and local farmers.
He added that nomads from outside Nigeria had migrated into the country and that they were the ones perpetrating most of the crimes on the farmlands, saying government would do the needful to enlighten Fulani herdsmen on how to make cattle rearing more profitable by utilising the ranches and reaping other social and political benefits that such settlements would offer.
According to the statement, the Foundation was set up to look into the problem of clashes between Fulani cattle rearers and farmers.
The statement noted that the foundation in its submissions, also expressed conviction that nomads from other lands are responsible for the senseless killings on the farms and urged the government to strengthen control across land borders.
“They said the foundation was ready to partner with government to bring the situation under control”.
Meanwhile, the SGF has assured the people of North-Eastern Nigeria that government agencies responsible for the rehabilitation of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the region do not discriminate in the provision of relief materials to the various states.
According to him, relief items were usually distributed with a deep sense of equity and fairness, emphasising that the severity of the hardships of the IDPs in the affected communities and states was the major consideration in the distribution exercise.
He made the clarification in his office when he received a delegation from the Lardin Gabas Elders Forum led by its Chairman, Board of Trustees, Captain Paul Tahir.
“He explained that rehabilitation efforts in the North-East, apart from the provision of foods items, tents and building materials, included the reconstruction of schools, hospitals, police stations and barracks. He confirmed that to streamline rehabilitation activities in the region, and accelerate the return of normal life to the North-Eastern States, a Presidential Committee on North-East Initiative (PCNI) will soon be inaugurated by Mr. President.
“The Lardin Gabas Elders Forum was established as a reaction to the devastation that Boko Haram insurgency visited on the North-East Region. The Forum, according to the delegation, is ready to work with the federal government to ensure that succour is brought to victims of the insurgency. The forum also advocates the return of Christian Religious Studies to school curriculum to teach youths about good moral upbringing, early,” he said.