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Open Grazing: My People Say They Have No Land For Ranching – Umahi
Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, says his people have no land to give out for cattle ranching.
Governor Umahi stated this on Monday evening while appearing as a guest on Channels Televisions
Umahi said each state in the South-East already has laws banning open grazing and as such, it is way off as he is a servant to his people.
“This is not about the governors, it is about the people, so, whatever position the people take in this regard, that is what will happen. There is no land in this regard that is not owned by individuals, corporate bodies.
“So, this is beyond governors and that is the truth. People calling governors are making a very grievous mistake. Even if I say as a governor in South-East, I want people from this village, I want you to donate this land, the question is: will they allow it?
“I have heard about three communal crisis in my state, and it is all about land. There is a place that I am building a medical university and the people of that village, for a project that is almost completed, went and brought it down. They prefer to have their farms than a medical college. So, the land is a different ball game altogether,” Umahi stated when asked whether he would provide land for ranching as a governor.
Speaking further Umahi noted that his people have “said they have no land for ranching. They put me where I am. If I have one acre of land and I am talking about giving land for ranching, I should be talking about that particular land. I can’t be talking about somebody’s land. Yes, constitutionally, I have control over the land but you have to kill all the people to get the land.”
Earlier in the year, Southern Governors banned open grazing of cattle across states in the region and urged the President to address Nigerians on the state of the nation.
The governors also called for the restructuring of the country to address increasing agitations in different parts of the nation, while restating their commitment to the unity of the country.
In reaction to the ban, the presidency said the governors failed to provide any solution to the lingering crisis between farmers and herders in the country.
Seeking to profer the needed solution, President Muhammadu Buhari in a recent interview stated that the government will return to a practice in which herders will ply designated grazing routes across the country.
The President said the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, has been asked to begin the process to see how these routes can be legally put back to use, a directive which has not gone down with many Nigerians, with some claiming that the insistence on open grazing points to a hidden agenda.
June 15, 2021
Buhari Supports open grazing, asks AGF to recover land for Herdsmen
President Muhammadu Buhari has given approval to the return of the open grazing practised during the 1st Republic where herdsmen used designated grazing routes to move their cattle to several parts of the country.
To this end, the President said he had asked the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, to begin the process of recovering land from persons who have converted cattle grazing routes for their personal use.
Buhari said this during an interview with Arise Television which was aired on Thursday.
The President said the grazing routes were designated in the 1st Republic when “Nigerians use to obey laws” but those routes had been converted.
Buhari was reacting to a question on the decision by 17 southern governors to ban open grazing.
The AGF had kicked against the declaration by the governors, adding that it was like northern governors banning spare part trading, a job that is synonymous with southerners.
When asked if he agreed with the AGF’s position, Buhari laughingly responded, “You want me to contradict my attorney-general?”
Explaining further, he said, “What I did was ask him to go and dig the gazette of the 1st Republic when people were obeying laws. There were cattle routes and grazing areas. Cattle routes were for when they (herdsmen) are moving up country, north to south or east to west, they had to go through there.
“If you allow your cattle to stray into any farm, you are arrested. The farmer is invited to submit his claims. The khadi or the judge will say pay this amount and if you can’t the cattle is sold. And if there is any benefit, you are given and people were behaving themselves and in the grazing areas, they built dams, put windmills in some places there were even veterinary departments so that the herders are limited. Their route is known, their grazing area is known.
“But I am telling you, this rushing to the centre (sic) so I asked for the gazette to make sure that those who encroached on these cattle routes and grazing areas will be dispossessed in law and try to bring some order back into the cattle grazing.”
He also lamented the style and utterances of Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, who had not only implemented an aggressive anti-open grazing law but had accused Buhari of failing to take actions against herdsmen because he is also a member of the Fulani herders.
Buhari said indeed, he is a Fulani man but Ortom was being unfair to him. He said he had told Ortom that the herdsmen perpetrating the attacks are not the Nigerian ones.
The President further explained that the Tivs, which form the majority in Benue, and the Fulanis had been engaged in cultural conflicts for a long time.
He added, “The problem is trying to understand the culture of the cattle rearers. There is a cultural difference between the Tivs and the Fulanis. So, the governor of Benue said I am not disciplining the cattle rearers because I am one of them.
“I cannot say I am not one of them but he is being very unfair to me and I told him that the Nigerian cattle rearer was not carrying anything more than a stick sometime with a machete to cut some trees and feed his cattle but those sophisticated ones move with AK 47.
“So, from other areas, people rush to Nigeria you know and Fulanis from Mauritania and Central Africa look the same so they feel they are the Nigerian ones and I assure you that we are trying to resuscitate these cattle routes, grazing areas and make them accountable.”
June 10, 2021
FG’s Position On Open Grazing Shocking, Misplaced Priority – Ortom
Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom on Tuesday described the Federal Government’s position on open grazing as shocking and “a misplaced priority.”
The Presidency had on Monday faulted the recent resolutions of the Southern Governors, including the ban on open grazing in the entire southern part of the country.
A statement signed by Presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said the Governors’ resolutions failed to provide any solution to the lingering crisis between farmers and herders in the country.
But the Benue State Governor, in a statement signed by spokesman Terver Akase, said the insistence on open grazing reserves by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is a pointer to a hidden agenda.
“We find the move not only shocking and curious but also as a misplaced priority,” the Ortom statement said.
“At a time the country is worried about the worsening security situation and many Nigerians are calling for national dialogue to address the fundamental issues that have led to the present state of affairs, the Federal Government considers the reopening of cattle grazing routes as the only solution available to it.”
READ ALSO: Open Grazing Ban: Southern Governors Did Not Provide Any Solution – Presidency
The Governor faulted the Federal Government’s plan to commence rehabilitation work on grazing reserves in the country next month.
Ortom recalled that the Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) had met on February 9 and agreed that the current system of herding mainly by open grazing is no longer sustainable, in view of the growing urbanisation and population of the country.
While noting that the Forum consequently resolved to sensitize herders on the need to adopt ranching as the new method of animal husbandry, Ortom said the 17 Governors of Southern Nigeria also met on May 11 in Asaba and banned open grazing in the entire region.
The Southern Governors, the Benue leader added, adopted ranching as the alternative method of rearing animals.
He added, “As it stands, the Presidency is the lone hand pushing for the continuation of open grazing and the return of cattle routes of 1950s and 60s. The Presidency has, by its endorsement of open grazing, emboldened armed herders who lay claim to all lands in Nigeria as belonging to Fulani, hence their invasion of farming communities and killing of original owners of such lands.
“The fact must be established that grazing reserves or cattle routes are no longer tenable in the 21st century when Nigeria’s population far exceeds that of the fifties at a time these routes were contemplated.
“At present, the routes have been taken over by airports, roads, schools, hospitals, as well as markets, houses and other human activities. The country’s land mass has also reduced to less than 923 square kilometers with the excision of Bakassi to Cameroon. Besides, the international best practice of animal husbandry is ranching; and that’s the stand of Benue State.”
We in Benue have embraced ranching as the viable alternative to open grazing and there is no going back on our resolve. Our ranching law which prohibits open grazing is Benue people’s reaction to the incessant killings, and it is also an instrument of development. The law was enacted by representatives of the people in the Benue State House of Assembly, in the exercise of its powers as provided for by Section 4 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended). Part 2 of the Second Schedule reinforces the power of the State House of the Assembly providing that “a House of Assembly may make laws for the State with respect to industrial, commercial or agricultural development.” The Law followed due process with public hearings and requisite opportunity for all stakeholders making input.
Ranching as a policy has the potential to launch Nigeria into 21st-century agricultural good practices. Today, open grazing is extinct in most countries of the world. In Europe, America, Asia and in many countries in Africa, pastoralism has long given way to ranching. How can Nigeria then still be battling with a problem of pastoralism that in other countries has been solved over a century ago? According to the United States Department of Agriculture, USDA, India has 303 million cattle, Brazil, 226 million, China, 100 million, USA, 93 million, Argentina, 53 million and Australia 27 million. All these countries ranch their animals. Nigeria has less than 20 million cattle which can easily be ranched. Unfortunately, the cows are allowed to either roam the streets freely or encroach on people’s farms and other investments.
While we may not stop the Federal Government’s plan to rehabilitate grazing reserves or create cattle routes in other states, we wish to make it clear that no land in Benue State has been gazetted for grazing routes, grazing reserves, cattle colonies and Ruga settlements. Benue is therefore not part of the grazing reserves rehabilitation programme of the Federal Government.
We expect the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to weigh the negative consequences its recommendation will have on the unity and security of the nation and advise Mr President that Nigerians are not on the same page with him regarding the matter of open grazing. It is not too late to salvage the situation.
We are concerned about the plight of millions of farmers who have been displaced as a result of herders’ attacks and are now in IDP camps; a development that is already adversely affecting food production. Benue State has over one million displaced people who are mostly farmers, and the task of returning them to their ancestral homes is what should bother the Ministry of Agriculture and other agencies of the Federal Government.
Terver Akase
Chief Press Secretary
May 25, 2021.
May 25, 2021
Buhari tackles Southern Govs on open grazing ban
President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday expressed a strong resolve to address the conflicts of herders and farmers for a permanent solution.
The Nigerian leader also ordered that the associated problem of the gun-wielding “killer herdsmen” be tackled.
Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, in a statement recalled Buhari approved measures to bring an end to the skirmishes as recommended by Sabo Nanono, the Minister of Agriculture, in April.
The presidency insisted that Buhari’s action was before the ban on open grazing by the Southern Governors Forum.
The statement noted it is very clear that there was no solution offered from the governors’ resolutions to the herder-farmer clashes “that have been continuing in our country for generations”.
Garba said the citizens of the southern states and others have a right to expect their elected leaders and representatives to find answers to challenges of governance and right.
“It is equally true that their announcement is of questionable legality, given the Constitutional right of all Nigerians to enjoy the same rights and freedoms within every one of our 36 states (and FCT) – regardless of the state of their birth or residence.”
Shehu said the governors’ declaration has been preempted, “for whatever it is intended to achieve”.
He noted that the President has rightly been worried about these problems more than any other citizen in consultation with farmers and herders alike.
Shehu said Buhari commissioned and approved an actionable plan of rehabilitating grazing reserves in the states, starting with those that are truly committed to the solution and compliant with stated requirements.
The aide added that the government is making far-reaching and practical changes allowing for different communities to co-exist side-by-side: supporting farmers to till their fields, herders to rear their livestock and Nigerians everywhere to be safe.
May 24, 2021
Malami To Southern Govs: Grazing Ban Is Like Prohibiting Spare Parts Trade In The North
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has likened the ban on open-grazing by southern governors with the prohibition of spare parts in the north.
Southerners are the ones dominating spare parts trade in the northern part of the country.
Responding to a question when he featured on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’, Malami described the action of the southerner governors as illegal.
Daybreak reported that at a meeting in Asaba, Delta State Capital, last week, southern governors announced a ban on open grazing in the region.
The governors cited the rising cases of kidnapping and killings as the reason for their action.
But Malami said no Nigerian has the right to deny his fellow citizens of their rights of freedom of movement.
He said, “It is a very dangerous position for any governor in Nigeria to think that he can bring about any compromise on the freedom and livery of individuals to move around.
“Within the context of the freedoms enshrined in our constitution, can you deny a right of a Nigerian? It is as good as saying may be the Northern governors coming together to say that they prohibit spare parts trading in the North. Does it hold water? Does it hold water for a Northern governor to come and state expressly that he now prohibits spare parts trading in the North?”
“If you are talking of a constitutionally guaranteed right, the better approach to it is perhaps to go back and ensure that the constitution is amended. The freedom and liberty of movement, amongst others is established by the constitution.
“If by an inch, you want to have any compromise, the better approach is to go back to the National Assembly for open grazing to be prohibited and see whether you can have the desired support for the constitutional amendment in that respect but it is a very dangerous position for any governor in Nigeria to think that he can bring about any compromise on the freedom and liberty of individuals to move around.”
May 20, 2021
Comparing spare part business with open grazing wicked, arrogant – Akeredolu Slams Malami
Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has lashed out at the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister for Justice, Abubakar Malami for kicking against the resolve by the southern governors to ban open grazing within the region.
According to Akeredolu, it is worrisome for Malami who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, to compare a well-structured business such as the spare part business with the archaic method of cattle grazing.
Akeredolu maintained that the ban on open grazing in the southern region has come to stay and will be enforced with utmost vigour.
The Attorney General was said to have frowned at the meeting of the Southern Governors’ Forum held in Asaba, Delta State capital where the governors ordered the immediate ban of open grazing across the zone.
Akeredolu who coordinated the Asaba meeting in a statement he personally signed, urged Malami to approach the court if he has anything against the move by the governors.
While emphasizing that the decision to ban open grazing was taken in the interest of the people, Akeredolu in the statement said, “It is most unfortunate that the AGF is unable to distil issues as expected of a Senior Advocate. Nothing can be more disconcerting.
“This outburst should, ordinarily, not elicit response from reasonable people who know the distinction between a legitimate business that is not in any way injurious and a certain predilection for anarchy.
“Clinging to an anachronistic model of animal husbandry, which is evidently injurious to harmonious relationship between the herders and the farmers as well as the local populace, is wicked and arrogant.
“Comparing this anachronism, which has led to loss of lives, farmlands and property, and engendered untold hardship on the host communities, with buying and selling of auto parts is not only strange. It, annoyingly, betrays a terrible mindset.”
May 20, 2021
Ban On Open Grazing, Restructuring Will Strengthen Nigeria’s Unity – Gov Okowa
Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa on Saturday said the decision of Southern states’ Governors to ban open grazing and call for restructuring was geared towards strengthening the unity of Nigeria.
The Governor made the comment on Saturday at an event in Asaba.
The Southern Governors had met on Tuesday in Delta state to discuss critical issues, including the farmer-herder crisis which has caused ruptures across the country.
A former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Prof. Usman Yusuf had criticised the move by the Governors to ban open grazing, saying they did not consult with Fulani leaders.
On Friday, Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, while appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today, also said Governors should be careful in how they approach the issue of restructuring.
But Okowa, who had hosted Tuesday’s meeting, said the Southern Governors were only re-echoing the voices of their people.
“We thank all our brothers in the south for coming together to speak for our people. The things that we’ve said are not new. It’s just the voice of our people that we have continued to echo.
“But unfortunately I read in the papers that somebody says we ought not to talk about certains things, being elected people. If the voice of your people has been heard madly and they’ve continued to talk and you are an elected person and you shy away from giving further voice to their voices, then you ought not be in the position that you occupy.
“We reaffirmed that as a people, as elected Governors, we believe in the unity of our country. But we also went forth to advance the need for certain things to be done in order to give strength to that unity. That cannot be a reason for us to be vilified, obviously not.
“We talked about restructuring, which has been on the table for so long. Both the voices of the PDP and the APC itself have endorsed restructuring. And restructuring is all-inclusive and all-encompassing. We may have different views, different approaches to the restructuring, but when we sit on the table in dialogue, we will be able to agree best what is good for Nigeria and what is good for the component parts of Nigeria.”
May 16, 2021
‘Southerners Are Not Second Class Citizens:’ Wike Vows To Implement Ban On Open Grazing
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike on Saturday said there is no going back on decision of Southern Governors to ban open grazing across the region.
The Governors met in Asaba, Delta State on Tuesday and agreed to the ban as parts of efforts to solve the farmer-herder crisis sweeping the country.
The decision has been frowned upon in some quarters.
A former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Prof. Usman Yusuf criticised the move, saying the Governors did not consult with the Fulani, a tribe renowned for nomadic cattle rearing.
Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, on Friday also suggested that a ban on open grazing should only be implemented when there are adequate plans for cattle ranching.
But speaking at a civic reception organized in his honour by the Ogoni Ethnic Nationality of Rivers State in Bori, headquarters of Khana Local Government Area on Saturday, Wike said the decision was cast in stone.
A file photo of Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike.
“Look, I have been in government, I am in opposition, nobody can cow me,” he said. “Magnus (Abe), they know, their government cannot cow me. I will say what I will say and I will do what is right for my people. Nobody will do me anything. I will die the day God says it is my day. Nobody can take my life when it is not time for me to die. So, let nobody be afraid.
“Let me also use this opportunity to say, all those who are saying why should Southern Governors ban grazing – I have taken further steps to fulfill what the Southern Governors said in Asaba. If anybody wants to die, go and die and hang yourself on electric pole.
“We have taken a position and we are not going back. Enough is enough; we are not second class of citizens of this country. We also own this country and we must partake in what is happening in this country.”
Meanwhile, Wike also tackled the Federal Government on the implementation of the Ogoni environmental cleanup exercise.
“You have said you are coming to clean Ogoniland,” he said. “Move your office from Port Harcourt and come to Bori. You cannot talk about cleaning up a place and you keep your office in another area; bring your office from Port Harcourt and come and stay in Bori so that you can hear and see the feelings of the people. It is very important.”
May 16, 2021
People Who Oppose Southern Governors On Open Grazing Have Hidden Agenda – Ortom
Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has said anyone who opposes the southern governors on open grazing ban is an evil person who has a hidden agenda.
The governor stated this on Thursday in Makurdi during the ‘Media Week and Communications Day 2021’ organised by the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi.
“Anybody that is castigating them for coming together to say that it is no longer feasible to do open grazing in Nigeria is an evil man with a hidden agenda,” he said.
“If you have land in your state and you think you can accommodate open grazing, you are free to do that. I am surprised that some people have taken to criticise and castigate the southern governors. Southern governors have not done anything wrong; they have done the right thing.”
While noting that his southern counterparts had towed the right path of addressing insecurity in Nigeria, Ortom stressed that open grazing was no longer feasible in the country due to development and population growth.
He insisted that the nation had great potentials and should, ordinarily, have no business with poverty if the security of life and property were guaranteed in communities to allow for farming and other ventures to flourish.
Ortom appreciated the church and Muslims in the state, as well as residents for remaining supportive of his administration.
He added, “They have not done anything strange. It is what we started in 2016 and it is what also the Northern Governors Forum met some time ago and adopted that moving forward in this country, we must adopt ranching.
“I appreciate my colleagues and the people of the Southern part of Nigeria, 17 governors coming together to adopt ranching as the global best practice and the best practice in Southern Nigeria.”
May 15, 2021
Why we banned open grazing in Southern Nigeria – Gov Akeredolu
The governors of the seventeen Southern states on Tuesday, May 11, met in Delta state where they banned open grazing and called on President Buhari to address Nigerians on the challenges of insecurity.
Chairman of the Southern Governor’s Forum and Ondo state governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, read the communique from the meeting. Read here.
In an interview with Arise TV on Wednesday, May 12, Governor Akeredolu explained why the Southern Governors Forum placed a ban on open grazing of cows in states across the region.
In his words
“It is not an entirely new issue. Most of the governors have placed a ban on open grazing in their states before the meeting. We looked at what is happening in our respective states. Most of the states have passed laws on open grazing. Virtually all of us have passed that law. We felt that this open grazing must stop. It is causing a lot of problems particularly between the herders and the farmers.
Whether we like it or not, times have changed and this must change. We must adopt a modern system of animal husbandry.
In this day and age, they cannot continue taking cows by foot from Kano to Port Harcourt,” he said.
Governor Akeredolu said the Federal Government needs to throw its weight behind state governments that want to set up ranches. According to him, this would benefit herders who are exposed to dangers as they roam with their cattle.
“At the meeting, we referred to what Governor Ganduje said. It was clear that he is also against open grazing. He says it does not augur well and the herders also do not benefit from it. There is no development, they are exposed to dangers.
That why we suggested that the Federal Government should intervene to help these herders. The Federal government should give money for ranches to be created. That is why it is part of our recommendation that states who want to create ranches be supported.” he said
May 13, 2021