Should states provide land for ranching?

Due to the incessant killings in many parts of the country and the recent statement by the presidency that giving land for ranching is a panacea for peace, KINGSLEY ALUMONA sampled the opinions of Nigerians as regards these matters. Their opinions:

Wale Muri

Of course, giving ranches to states that want to go into animal husbandry, rearing cattle, is necessary. But they should stop the killings. The presidency, because it is headed by a Faluni man, who is also a herdsman, the matter has not been taken seriously. But when it was IPOB, they went and stopped them. Such nepotism should stop. This herdsmen thing has been for a long time, but other governments were able to curtail it. This present government has failed the Nigerian people. Agriculture is not working. If you go to the market the prices you buy things are even higher. Why shouting agriculture? This kind of government has no capacity to rule Nigerians. Come 2019, they should pack their bags and go.

 

Mathew Adeleke

All this ranching stuff is not straightforward. For me, if the federal government wants to do ranching, it ought not to call it ranching, it should have called it federal agricultural settlements, which will benefit everybody. With this idea, the people will not think that the president wants to give some parts of their individual lands to other people. But if you go by the idea of federal government settlement, I think it will provide the employment that people are clamouring for, than ranching. So, the federal government should think twice. I know here in Yoruba land, people will not agree with the president to do such a thing in their land. But if they adopt federal agricultural settlements, and establish it as a commission, I think it will go a long way to serve the nation, than the ranching they are calling it.

 

Rita Nwaounyegu

I do not subscribe to giving the herdsmen any land for ranching. What the presidency is suggesting is simply a national blackmail. If these herdsmen have their way, other groups will crop up with their own agenda, and then we will have to give in just to continue like that. When will all this stop? Why do they have to keep infringing on people’s right just to have their way? The president should wake up and realise that he is not the president of Fulanis, but the president of Nigerians. Herdsmen are busy killing people and instead of them taking proactive measures, they are subscribing that we give them land for ranching so that the killings will stop. That means if we do not give them land for ranching, they will continue the killings. Then why is the presidency in power? We are already a laughing stock in the international community. This kind of thing will not happen in any other country, except in Nigeria. Why are we retrogressing? Mr President, please wake up to your responsibility. This bloodshed is enough. This cheap propaganda of giving them land is never the solution. We will not subscribe to it. If herdsmen need land for ranching, they should invest in it. It is their business.

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Michael Oko

If the president is not capable of providing security to Nigerians, then he should tell them. Herdsmen have no right to kill any Nigerian, because there is anti-grazing  law that makes them angry to kill so that the government will have no reason  but to give them land. That means the presidency is in support of the killings, technically. This is beyond human imagination.  I do not think stopping these killings by herdsmen is by giving them land for ranching. All over the world, there are people who are farmers and cattle rearer, and these are strictly private businesses. If herdsmen want land for cattle rearing, the government can assist them to buy land on their own, but not for communities to cede their land to them so that peace will reign. This will only bring immediate solution but in the future, it will bring problems for the communities and for the herdsmen. The presidency should do more than that, by thinking outside the box. It should check how other countries are moving well in their agricultural system and in their security.Must we take the wrong steps all the time?

 

Kola Kayode

These incessant killings should stop, because if they do not, it means this country is moving towards anarchy. We have a government in this country and it should stop this madness. There was an element of these killings in past governments but now that the president is in power, it has worsened. During Jonathan time, before he will take any military action against any insurgency, he will take advice from army chiefs. But the current president is a general. He knows much about military actions and what it takes to curb these killings. We do not have to be keeping quiet about the killings, because we do not know where it is going next. Everybody is unsecured. This is affecting everything, even our foreign investments. It is damaging our image in the international level. We want the killings to stop in all the states it has affected and some other states that might likely be affected in the future. It does not matter where you belong. Irrespective of political, religious or ethnic affiliation, we want the killings to stop. A Nigerian is a Nigerian. What happens to one, happens to all.

 

Joseph Oluwagbade

This is just the latest attempt to tell Nigerians the position of the presidency on the herdsmen issue. The presidency has not always come straight, but it is now clear and glaring what they stand for. This is not the first time the presidency, through Femi Adesina, will be making unguided statements such as this. This can add salt to injury and escalate ethnic and tribal prejudice. The time of ranches everywhere, is past and bygone. They should concentrate them in their Northern land and find a solution for it. This herdsmen issue has added a lot of evil to this country. Politicians and other evil perpetrators have taken advantage of it. Religion has also been linked to it. These evil doers, nemesis will catch up with them.

 

Michael Odaudu

When has cattle rearing become a national business? And, are the Fulani herdsmen too big for the government to handle? Or is there something we are yet to understand about them?  Business is business, and governance is governance. The government should sit down and brainstorm on this problem and proffer solutions to them. They should stop coming up with solutions that are questionable. My question still remains, what happens after the ranches have been established? What happens to national security if there is a settlement for herders in every state? Are the Fulani planning to capture the whole of Nigeria? Is this not going to be a time bomb waiting to explode? Let us be careful about the solutions we are proffering to this problem, so the solutions will not become a bigger problem to be solved in the future.

 

Pev Iortsaha

We will only be disappointed if we think that ranching is a way to end these killings by the Fulani herdsmen. Besides that, is this bullying or jinxing? Instead of boldly hunting those predators and bring them to justice, the presidency is developing cold feet. Even without the killings, we can make laws that suit our predicaments. What does the presidency mean by ranching is better than being dead? Are they bullying or ordering us? They don’t do that! They don’t use stupid statements to buttress their point when Nigerians are in pains. If grazing is the only problem, why is the crisis biased to some selected states while the nomads are all over the nation and beyond? Why is the killing escalating all of a sudden?  There are so many more questions about this matter. So let us scrutinise it holistically and objectively, for a lasting solution.

 

Idom Bamidele

As regards these killings in many parts of the country, especially in Plateau, I will advise the government to create a scenario where land could be given to herdsmen to rear their cattle with immediate effect to avoid any kind of killing. If this incident continues this way, it could lead to something else. I think it will be good if the federal government give them land. There are a lot of abandoned lands that can be given to them, just to stop these killings. If these herdsmen have a particular place they can use, it will prevent them from going to people’s farms, so that there will not be clashes and problems. I think these suggestions could help.

A. Alonge

I believe these killings are political. The problem with the Northern leaders is that they are not taking appropriate actions to stop the killings. They are not helping the government to solve the problems. They are using the lives of their people to play politics and also spoiling the name of the government. They are the ones buying arms for the herdsmen, sponsoring thugs. They should not let their people die because of their interests. Tiv and Faluni people have been living together for many years. Why the killings now? If the people cannot find solutions to the killings, there is nothing the government can do. However, the issue of the federal government giving land for ranching is not advisable. They are wrong in that aspect. How can you take someone’s land and give it to another person? It will cause problems in the future.

 

Alabi Michael

If the federal government cannot sit down and work on our security, then there is a problem. For God’s sake, the president is the first man of the nation. The first responsibility on his desk is the security of every human being. That is his first assignment. If he cannot do that, then why does he want people to keep supporting him? People are killing people. People are crying, telling him this is their land, telling him what they want in their land. What the presidency is telling them is to keep quiet. If the spokesman of the presidency is saying that, that means they are in support of the killings, and that they cannot  apprehend the killers. That is the meaning. They cannot work on the people that are killing. Miyetti Allah that says the anti-grazing law should be taken away, that if it is not taken away, there will not be peace, cannot be talked to or apprehended. What are they saying?

 

Oluseyi Ajaji

I will advise the Yoruba elders not to tolerate anything ranching or cattle colony, because the live of people is important than the lives of animals. So, we beg our elders not to tolerate, because of politics of whatever reason, any ranching or cattle colony.