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Open Grazing Ban: Southern Governors Didn’t Offer Any Solution – Presidency

The President has criticized the Southern Governors’ recent resolutions, which include a ban on open grazing in the entire southern part of the nation.

Garba Shehu, the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, said in a statement on Monday that the Governors have failed to find a solution to the country’s lingering crisis between farmers and herders.

“It is very clear that there was no solution offered from their (the Governors’) resolutions to the herder-farmer clashes that have been continuing in our country for generations,” he said.

Shehu added, “But the citizens of the Southern States – indeed citizens of all States of Nigeria – have a right to expect their elected leaders and representatives to find answers to challenges of governance and rights, and not to wash their hands off hard choices by, instead, issuing bans that say: “not in my State”.

Following a meeting on May 11 in Asaba, the Delta State capital, state governors in the South decided to ban open grazing and cattle movement by foot in the area.

They demanded a restructuring of the country, as well as fiscal federalism, devolution of powers, and state policing, and asked President Muhammadu Buhari to convene a national dialogue to resolve the region’s agitations.

Shehu responded to the Governors’ calls by saying that the President has expressed a firm commitment to resolving the herder-farmer dispute in a long-term and sustainable manner.

He hoped that by doing so, a lasting solution to the regular conflicts between the two sides, as well as the issue of gun-wielding killer herdsmen, would emerge.

According to the President’s spokesman, his boss has approved a range of concrete steps to put an end to the regular skirmishes, as proposed by Agriculture Minister Sabo Nanono in a study he submitted.

He said that President Buhari approved the report in April, accusing the Southern governors of politicking in order to demonstrate their influence by prohibiting open grazing in their respective states.

According to Shehu, the ban on open grazing is unconstitutional, provided that all Nigerians have the fundamental right to enjoy the same privileges and freedoms in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), regardless of where they were born or live.

“Fortunately, this declaration has been pre-empted, for whatever it is intended to achieve, and Mr President, who has rightly been worried about these problems more than any other citizen in consultation with farmers and herders alike, 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.

“With veterinary clinics, water points for animals, and facilities for herders and their families, including schooling – through these rehabilitated reserves, the Federal 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,” he said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put a strain on public finances at both the federal and state levels, according to the presidential spokesman.

He did say, however, that federal funding for the initiative, which had been postponed, was being partially unlocked, and that work on fully implementing the modern reserve system in a few of the consenting States would begin in June.

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Ihesiulo Grace

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