The Senate on Wednesday, 10th May, 2016 conducted a public hearing on its motion “Tackling the Perennial Conflict between Farmers and Cattle Herders’’. It will be recalled that the Senate had mandated its Committees on Agriculture and Rural Development and National Security and Intelligence in March 2016, to conduct a public hearing on the matter with a view of articulating a lasting solution to the problem.
The public hearing was chaired by Sen. Abdullahi Adamu (APC:Nassarawa), Chairman of the Joint Committees and had in attendance the Director General of the National Boundary Commission, Dr Muhammad Ahmad and representatives of the Minister of Agriculture, Service Chiefs, Police, National Human Rights Commission, the Plateau State Governor, traditional rulers, Cattle herdsmen, affected communities, civil society organizations, the media and concerned citizens. The Senate President, Bukola Saraki (APC:Kwara) was also represented by Sen. Ali Ndume (APC:Borno).
Giving the welcome address Senate leader, Sen. Ali Ndume said that the public hearing would provide an opportunity to examine, discuss and recommend ways of solving the crisis between farmers and cattle herdsmen. He also observed that farmers and cattle herdsmen had co-existed peacefully in the past and hoped that the public hearing would produce actionable recommendations. The Chairman of the Senate Joint Committees also described the objective of the public hearing as creating a platform for permanent solutions on the conflict between farmers and cattle herdsmen and appealed to community leaders to be careful in addressing the situation and allow the rule of law prevail. He also encouraged participants at the public hearing to cooperate with security agencies to prevent further clashes between farmers and cattle herdsmen.
There were also notable presentations made by various groups who suggested methods of resolving the conflicts between farmers and cattle herdsmen. The representative of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development for instance, proposed the setting up of ranches to enable cattle produce more at their peak. He also noted that 9 states had already responded promising some hectares of land for the proposed ranches. The representatives of security agencies also suggested a joint task force to stop the circulation of illegal arms and establish tighter border security when ranches are created.
Furthermore the representative of the Plateau State Governor, Mrs Linda Barau was also of the opinion that sensitization would increase awareness on the concept of ranching. This view was corroborated by the Director General of the National Boundary Commission who also proposed grazing reserves as temporary measure and the set up of ranches in the longer term to forestall the conflict. In addition, he suggested the reintroduction of cattle taxes to integrate cattle herdsmen into society.
Other suggestions from the public hearing included creating a Ministry of Livestock Development, compensating victims affected by the clashes and the rehabilitation and resettlement of affected communities.
