The Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has stated that
there is no section of his state that will be made available for the federal
government proposed Ruga Settlement.
Obaseki, made the assertion on Tuesday in a lecture titled:
‘The Challenges of Pastoralism and International Migration for Sustainable
Peace and Development in Nigeria: Edo State Experience’, which he delivered at
an Executive Intelligence Management (EIM) Course 12 held at the Department of
State Services’ (DSS) Institute of Security Studies, Lower Usuman Dam Bwari,
Abuja.
As part of his recommendations to bring about lasting
solution to the perennial clashes between farmers and herders in parts of the
country, the governor suggested among other things, that the federal government
can create a grazing reserve in the Sambisa forest.
Obaseki said: “The Sambisa Grazing Reserve (4800 ha) is an
ideal and symbolic place to take off by establishing a ranch run by the
military. It would significantly improve the security situation in the zone and
encourage cooperation between pastoralists and the military.
“In the North-west, the military should also be encouraged
to create ranches in the Gidan Jaja Grazing Reserve (565,000 ha) for the same
purpose of improving security and cooperation with pastoralists (NWGPG, 2018).”
He said the approach of his government has been that animal
husbandry is a business just like we have poultry, piggery or what have you.
So, from that perspective, we want to now upgrade agricultural practices as it
relates to livestock.
“For us, because it is business like any other private
business, the state should not really have much to do except we create an
enabling environment for those people who want to invest in livestock business.
So, the issue of giving state land for livestock, it won’t happen in Edo State,”
Obaseki stated emphatically.
He, however noted that during the era of the former military
president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida,
ranches were set up in several parts of Edo State, which are either
privatised or left fallow.
Acccording to him, “we are talking to people who purchased
them to see how they can be re-activated,” adding that “Individuals who have
land and they want to go into livestock business, like we are supporting people
who are doing cassava and others, we as government will support them.”
Insisting that there are some criminally-minded herders who
are engaged in nefarious activities beyond just herding, Obaseki noted that “In Edo State, we have
found so-called herdsmen with maps in the forests. They clearly cannot be
herdsmen who are dependent on their livelihood from their animal assets; that
cannot be.
“I think it is important in the context of this discourse to
make that distinction between conflict as a result of economic activities,
separate from deliberate conflict that is related to other issues like
insurgency and terrorism.
“You have issue of pastoralists or herdsmen who have come to
parts of the South, Edo State over the years using grazing routes. They have
always interacted with the communities, they have always had economic
arrangements with those communities and because of the socio-political
structures when they come into the communities, the first thing they do is to
go and look for the chief or the leader in the community, announce their
presence and go into economic arrangement.
“Unfortunately, because of the breakdown of that social
structure within the herdsmen arrangement, we found out that some of the young
men who they give the cattle, coming into the communities without respecting
this arrangement that has been in place, they cause conflicts within those
communities. They have always had conflict resolution mechanisms," he said
Underscoring the need for Nigeria and in deed for Africa to
plan towards the transformation of pastoralism into settled forms of animal husbandry,
Obaseki stated that the establishment of grazing reserves would provide the
opportunity for practising a more limited form of pastoralism and is therefore
a pathway towards a more settled form of animal husbandry.
Tracing the problems confronting Nigeria and other parts of
Africa to dearth of quality leadership, he said: “The security challenges of
pastoralism and international migration and several other problems that Nigeria
face as a country can only be solved by our political leaders and security
officers with the citizens' co-operation.
“This underscores the need for quality political and
security leadership that is peace and development-oriented. Therefore, the
efficacy and utility of leadership in the nation’s quest for sustainable peace and
development cannot be over-emphasised.
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