A former Minister of Agriculture, Mr Audu Ogbeh has asked President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to consider the creation of State Police to end the current Security challenges being faced in the country.
He also urged the President to revoke the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocol on free movement Nigeria signed which has allowed herders from other West African countries coming with cows and camels to graze in Nigeria.
Ogbeh made the call on Wednesday in Abuja at the launch of Young Women in Agriculture (YWA) Champion in Nigeria organised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, Read and Earn Federation (UNESCO-REF) under its Strategic Intervention Programme -ALPHA (SIP-ALPHA.
One of the key recommendations of the 2014 National Conference (Confab) put together by the previous administration of President Goodluck Jonathan was creation of State Police.
The report was jettisoned by the last administration of President Muhammadu Buhari’, in spite of calls by many Nigerians to implement some of the recommendations of the Confab, especially the creation of state police arising from the deteriorating insecurity in country, which Ogbeh also said state police was the only answer to the menace of banditry, kidnapping and all forms security challenges Nigeria is grappling with today.
He noted hunger is ravaging the country today because of herders/ farmers crises that lingered, making people avoiding farm work for fear of being killed or kidnapped by bandits.
Ogbeh who was the Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) from 2001 until January 2005 and Minister of Agriculture from 2015–2019, insisted that state police is needed because the local people know the bandits and trouble-makers.
He said: There is no scientific approach to the issue of insecurity. I think government should have acquired inside workshop for people to bring more facts and figures about what they know to be able to deal with the matter.
“Perhaps, the issue of the state police, to be able to come on board because local people know who the bandits and trouble-makers are, except the foreign ones who come in because of agreement that has been signed about moving in here from West African countries to graze. Have you ever seen a copy of that agreement? It is wrong. It should be revoked.
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“You can’t say cows from Muritania, Mali, Senegal can come into Nigeria to graze and many of them come well armed, and when they see so much grass here they don’t want to go back.
“Some of them see that the solution is to kill all the local farmers and take over their land, it is wrong, that is the plain truth, and nobody seems to want to address it.
“They have to cancel that agreement, and I will personally present a copy of that agreement to President Tinubu to see and tell every West African countries to design their own ranches, grow your own grasses, let your cows stay there and feed there.
“The Nigerian indigenous Fulani men have never been the problem. If they had a problem with a farm they pay the penalty.
“Now they are armed with AK-47 and want to wipe out entire population and take their land, that can’t be. Let each country appeal to World Bank, World Food Organisation or UNDP for support for them to grow their own grass and irrigate them and keep their cows there,” he said.
He noted that Young Women in Agriculture being launch was in the right direction as youths needed to be encouraged and empowered as older farmers are aging, adding that this was the only way to ensure food security in the country.
President of UNESCO REF, Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu said the Initiative was part of commitment UNESCO REF in Nigeria to contribute its quota towards actualizing substantial attainment of the United Nations global goal before or by 2030 with emphasis on goal 2, which aimed at achieving “zero hunger’
“Recognising the key role women play in agriculture, the launching of Young Women in Agriculture in Nigeria, could not have come at any better time than now when food insecurity has become a major issue In Nigeria.
“The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that women make up 43% of the agricultural workforce globally. This number goes up to over 60% in least developed countries Despite this key role they play in agricultural development, women have less access to technologies,” he said.
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