Rep member, Igbakpa, lauds ban on night grazing

The Member representing Ethiope Federal Constituency of Delta State in the House of Representatives, Hon Benjamin Igbakpa, at the weekend, lauded the ban placed on night grazing by herdsmen nationwide by the leadership of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN).

Speaking with newsmen in Abuja on Saturday, Hon Igbakpa of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), declared that the bold step taken by the leadership of the group would bring a lasting solution to the incessant clashes between herdsmen and their host communities nationwide

According to him, “this is good news to Nigerians, it shows that the herdsmen are not as bad as we are being made to believe. It is a good decision in the right direction that will end all these unnecessary clashes which had claimed several lives and properties worth billions of naira destroyed.

ALSO READ: Supreme Court judgement: Police deploy 1,000 officers to maintain peace

“What do you say in situation you leave your farm at the end of the day’s work with crops flourishing and with the hope of having a bountiful harvest but only for to return to the same farmland in the second morning and find everything destroyed.

“That’s the root of these crises but now that there will be no more night grazing, peace is gradually coming to the land because the leadership of the group will not stop at that, they will have more planned actions to end the menace which is painting Nigeria in bad light before the international community.”

He, however, urged the Federal Government to take a clue from the step taken by the leadership of the group to ban night grazing by herdsmen nationwide by engaging aggrieved groups in dialogues to restore permanent peace into the country to allow for meaningful development in the country.

On the gradual withdrawal of the Military personnel from the Boko Haram ravaged areas in the country, the lawmaker described it as a welcome development as the Nigeria Police Force saddled with the responsibility of internal security would assist the displaced Nigerians to return to their traditional homes to begin normal lives rather than what is being witnessed now at the Internally Displaced Person’s (IDP) camps nationwide.

He, however, advised that the Police must be adequately funded, equipped and repositioned for the task ahead to avoid the nation being returned to square one of total insecurity.