Handle herdsmen/farmers crisis with seriousness, NACOMYO tells FG

The National Council of Muslim Youth Organisations (NACOMYO) has called for seriousness and proactive on the part of the Federal Government and other stakeholders in finding a lasting solution to the incessant conflicts between herdsmen and farmers across the country which have resulted in great loss of life.

The apex Muslim youth group described the recent killings in Benue State as a tragedy of national proportion and emphasised the need for the consideration of all factors at play in the herdsmen/farmers situation for an enduring peace to be achieved in the Middle Belt and other parts of the country.

The group, in a statement by its National President, Kamaldeen Akintunde, expressed sadness that the repeating decimal had revolved around two occupational groups which had tolerated each other in the past and which are critical to food security in the country.

NACOMYO said it subscribed to the belief that a diagnosis would reveal political, ethnic, religious and economic dimensions to the disturbances and called for an all-inclusive security summit to address the problem once and for all.

“Since every problem carries the seed of its solution,” NACOMYO said, “a stakeholders’ forum involving key targets, experts and other shades of opinions is imperative in unravelling the immediate and remote causes of the vexed issue liable to degenerate into ethnic strife and a civil war if not carefully and justifiably handled.

“As there could be more to the problem than meets the eye, a diagnosis of the seeming security challenge will reveal political, ethnic, religious and economic dimensions to it, hence the need to accommodate and sieve all shades of opinions in the quest for a panacea,” the group said.

It described the planned establishment of settlements for pastoralists, “cattle colony,” by the Federal Government as a major step at finding the solution to the problem which, it said, had undermined national cohesion and security.

NACOMYO noted that the planned herders’ colony stands to recoup grazing lands which hitherto had been encroached on due to human activities and increasing population, as well as restrict herders to specific locations.

It, however, said the initiative would require an explanation to the stakeholders as well as public enlightenment in order to allay the fears in some quarters. The Fulani herdsmen, too, it added, have to be friendly more than ever before with their neighbours and for the cattle business to flourish.

The group urged religious leaders, the traditional institution and leaders of formal and informal groups to come up with ideas that could assist the government in arresting the menace in the interest of unity and national development.

NACOMYO had advocated a review of the anti-open grazing law already made in some states so as to douse tension and engender peace and harmonious relationship between the two groups of farmers.

It described the anti-open grazing policy as directed at a group and an infringement on their means of living.

It appealed to governments to exercise restraint in formulating policies bordering on the livelihood of the people, saying engagement of stakeholders in programme and policy formulation through advocacy was critical to achieving obedience and total compliance.