THE House of Representatives on Tuesday urged the Federal and State government to work out modalities for the establishment of cattle breeding settlement as a lasting solution to incessant clashes between farmers and the herdsmen.
The House resolution followed a motion sponsored by Honourable Mohammed Onawo entitled, “need to educate and encourage herdsmen on the benefits of ranching instead of the proposed cattle colonies in every state of the federation”.
According to the lawmaker, “most of those clashes stem from the practice of herdsmen roaming in the wild across the length and breadth of the country in search of grazing pastures for their cattle and breadth of the county in search of grazing pastures for their cattle and as a result, trespassing into, and damaging crops in farms.”
The grazing practice of the herdsmen, he said was not only exposing them to danger, saying that, “they fall prey to cattle rustlers and kidnappers, but also results in conflicts with farmers whose crops are trampled upon by the cattle.
Speaking further, he said that, The Federal government’s proposal to establish cattle colonies in every state in Nigeria to cater for the herdsmen and their cattle as a lasting solution to the continuous clashes which, in most cases, result in senseless and avoidable loss of lives and properties
“The decision to establish cattle colonies in each state could be in violation of Section 42 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended and the Land Use Act as those colonies will remain the exclusive reserve of the individual state governments and as such, would not guarantee total freedom to the herdsmen”, he stated.
He also observed that cattle rearing was not an exclusive reserve of the Fulani’s as other tribes also engage in the business.
The lawmaker equally stated that “to provide a lasting solution to the incessant conflicts between herdsmen and farmers, if the herdsmen would be fully sensitised and educated about the benefits of the program, as it would enable them full ownership of those ranches”.
Most lawmakers in their contribution said that ranching should be embraced by the herdsmen as a way out of the current herdsmen clashes.
Meanwhile, the House has expressed concerns over a stereotypical attribution of every killing to a particular group irrespective of where they took place.
Speaking at a press briefing, Deputy Chief Whip, Honourable Pally Iriase said that the House was not unaware of the number of efforts and approaches by agencies of government to tackle the problem.
Honourable Iriase who is also the Chairman ad hoc committee on incessant killings and other security concern said that “some of this strait-laced narratives have tended to ascribe all killings to a single cause, thus jettisoning the need to rigorously interrogate the happenings with an open, unbiased and nonpartisan mind.
“The seven-man Committee is bipartisan, multi-ethnic and multi-religious in composition and we are enjoined to approach this important national assignment with an open mind and adopt an Intelligence gathering focus.
“To achieve our goal in this onerous task, we have adopted a proactive approach that will see us embark on visitation and interaction with victims by visiting a number of carefully selected areas that have been attacked severally, interact with the victims, survivors and other critical stakeholders.
“We will also interact with the security chiefs, in addition to our foreign partners.
“To assure Nigerians that it is going to be an all-inclusive engagement, a public hearing that will afford Nigerians the opportunity to air their grievances and proffer solutions will also be conducted.
“It must, however, be emphasised that intelligence gathering is going to be put in focus because the aim is to get to the remote and immediate causes of these killings”.
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