(Editorial) No! no!! …to National policy on grazing

The perennial clashes between herdsmen and farmers and the huge material losses and destruction of human lives may be the litmus test of our survival as a nation and the willingness and objectivity of this government in finding amicable solution to the problem. Those who have consistently questioned the motive of the herdsmen and government reluctance and indeed, indifference to the bloodletting and mayhem unleashed by these people appear justified with the clandestine and subtle manner government is trying to execute the agenda of the herdsmen.

When this problem escalated shortly after the election of President Buhari most people thought it was a passing incident that would soon fizzle out like most of self inflicted problems in the country. Sadly enough, and uncharacteristically, the problem has not only lingered beyond the expected threshold of public endurance, but has assumed deeper and dangerous dimension of entrenched interest that is capable of threatening collective existence. Those who suspect government impartiality in the matter allude to the affinity of the umbrella body of the herdsmen, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN with Buhari, as their life patron before becoming president of Nigeria.

Following the Agatu, Benue state, rampage and massacre with over 700 deaths, an ingenious scheme of creating a grazing path or reserves in different parts of the country was unfolded and forcefully canvassed as the cure-all of the crisis. According to the proposal the herdsmen are culturally nomads and should not be inconvenienced or stopped from practicing their trade and tradition even though it is at the expense and violation of the rights of others to life and property.

This proposal was even promoted as a bill in the two chambers of the National Assembly as an indication of its necessity and urgency; entitled The National Grazing Route & Reserve Commission bill to establish, manage and control grazing routes and reserves in all parts of Nigeria, HB 388 Sponsor: Hon. Karim Steve Sunday (PDP: Kogi State – Yagba East/Yagba West/Mopa–‐muro). Later the bill was consolidated on 15 March 2016 with HB 323: An Act to Create Cattle Ranches.

However, the outcry and public indignation over such contemplation forced the NASS members to beat a quick and, it seems, momentary retreat, by discarding the bill after second reading before it could be committed to the committee. Although the battle appeared then to be over, it is now clear that the war is far from won. Nigerians in the middle belt and southern Nigeria had accused the herdsmen and promoters of the bill of hegemonic and religious agenda of land grabbing forcing the legislators to surrender.

With the death of the bill at the NASS most people thought the idea of grazing reserves was buried. But the cat was out of the bag last week by MACB AN last week when it informed the nation of the federal government policy on grazing reserves. The General Secretary of the Association, Alhaji Baba Othman Ngelzarma, who spoke at an advocacy and sensitization visit on the development of grazing reserves and stock routes in Awe local government area of Nasarawa State organised by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in collaboration with MACBAN and farmers,  asked its members to embrace the government policy on grazing reserves as part of efforts to reduce incessant clashes between farmers and herdsmen in Nigeria.

He blamed the escalation of the crisis on the inability of the Federal Government in the last 30 years to formulate a policy on livestock sector of the economy, adding that farmers/herdsmen crisis in Nigeria will continue until the grazing reserve policy of the federal government is implemented. He commended the federal government for taking steps to develop existing grazing reserves, adding that there are about 415 grazing reserve in the country out of which 144 had been gazetted, saying a quick solution to the menace is the development of the 144 gazetted grazing reserves located mostly in the north.

This is arrant nonsense and putative blackmail to stampede government and especially Nigerians to accept the policy as a way of preventing the crisis. Nothing can be more farfetched and irresponsible. The Northern Regional government developed the reserves in their part of the country and it should not be the duty of the federal government to assume responsibility if the successor states in the north not only abandoned the policy but also expropriated the land for other purposes.  It is therefore wrong and unacceptable to blame the government for such neglect and inaction.

The undisguised threat by MACBAN that the crisis will continue unless and until they get their wish through the grazing reserves points to the motive behind the violence and the strong arm tactic to intimidate both government and Nigerians into acquiescence. This is provocative and government must intervene decisively to call them to order and ensure no pretext is used by anybody to take the laws into their hand as the herdsmen have done and continue to do. It is not their right to graze their cattle which is a private business on other people’s farmland because the constitution guarantees that the exercise of one’s right does infringe on those others. While we appreciate the attenuating circumstances such as desertification, no excuse is permissible in breaking the law.

First, it is immoral, even criminal, for government to use public resources to advance private interests. If government does it for the Fulani, will it do the same for every other group with perceived threat to their livelihood? Second, nothing gives the herdsmen any power or right to destroy people’s farms and lives without compensation; it does not matter the excuse.  The constitution guarantees right to private property. So as they are entitled to their cattle so also do the farmers. One right is not higher or greater than the other.

Third, grazing reserves cannot be the solution to this thorny issue, because of its multifaceted, far-reaching and long term implications; indeed, it only postpones the doom day and introduces a bigger dimension to the problem; whose land will be used and who pays for it?.

Finally, the proper and permanent solution would be to criminalise herding and destruction of farms and compel cattle breeders to invest in ranches as is the practice globally; where provisions have been made for grazing reserves in the past, particularly in the north, they should be revived and improved on by their states as part of investment for Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, through taxation; but the federal government should not be remotely involved especially in funding.

To create a national policy on grazing reserves and to commit public funds in their development are unacceptable, hegemonic and retrogressive. As the life patron of the association, the president tread carefully and refrain from rewarding this group at the national expense and the peace, well being and security of the other Nigerians.