The Governor of Benue State, Mr. Samuel Ortom, has
called on the incoming ninth National Assembly to pass a National Open Grazing
Prohibition and Ranches Establishment bills as a way to stop the ongoing Fulani
herdsmen attacks from becoming a national barrier.
Ortom made this call while delivering the Maiden
Public Lecture of the Professor Miriam Ikejiani Clark organised by the Political
Science Department of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
The lecture was titled: ‘The challenges of mitigating
herdsmen attacks on people of Nigeria: Lessons from Benue State’
According to the governor, the incoming ninth
National Assembly must be challenged to pass the National Open Grazing
Prohibition and Ranches Establishment bills, stressing that any recommendation
about opening cattle routes of the 1950s would not work because ‘on such routes,
there are now built hospitals, airports, university campuses and government secretariats.”
He also said the nomadic pastoralism is not an
activity of this century, adding that courage and wisdom are needed by the
National Assembly and political leadership to move Nigeria forward.
The governor also made it known that the problems
of Fulani herdsmen attacks is not limited to the state or the Middle-Belt
alone.
“Those who think that the problem of herdsmen is
only that of the Benue Valley and Middle-Belt states should watch out. It was
first with Plateau State and southern Kaduna and then Taraba, Adamawa, Niger,
Kogi, Nasarawa, Delta, Cross River, Ekiti Ebonyi, Enugu, Zamfara, Katsina,
Rivers, Ogun, Ondo and other states. It is spreading, and soon it will become
an obvious national social and economic problem too difficult to contain,” he
said.
Blaming the Nigerian police for failing to come to
the rescue of the victims of the herdsmen attacks, Ortom hinted that the
current police no longer work for Nigeria but for some people in power.
He said: “I have learnt another lesson! The current
Nigeria police are not really Nigeria police but the police of some people in
power at the centre. I have had a lot of experience with many police
commissioners as well as police officers sent to Benue State for assignments.
“All I can say is that we need state and local police
at the local council areas beside the federal police; and not as a ‘police force’
but a ‘police service’.”
Ortom added: “But look around, you may not find many who are
willing to put their neck for the overall good of the Nigerian people.
Nigerians can give you full support when you stick out your neck for them to
denounce injustice, domination and religious intolerance. Where are those
Nigerians willing to work for the overall interest of the people and not their
narrow self-interests?
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