•Plans sub-regional confab
Magnus Eze, Abuja
The Federal Government may have settled for regional solution to the festering herdsmen-farmers’ conflicts in some parts of the country.
Daily Sun gathered that the Presidency and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the recommendation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development were looking into possibly tabling the issue at the level of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
A source at the foreign affairs ministry revealed that the country might host a regional summit on the menace of herdsmen this year, taking into cognizance the ECOWAS protocol on human and livestock movement.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, had at a press conference on livestock development in the country, recently, reiterated that government was not leaving any stone unturned in engendering an ecosystem where everybody would live peacefully, devoid of clashes and killings.
“We hope that if and when we deal with this problem, we can export some of our solutions to our next door neighbours especially in West Africa, they too experience the same kind of things we are talking about.
“There are conflicts in Ghana, Togo, Cote d’Voire and Benin Republic between herdsmen and farmers. It is not unique to Nigeria.
“We are going to call a regional conference and since the ECOWAS treaty does not forbid movement of human beings and livestock; you really can’t block them.
“Even if you want to, the borders are so open, the country is so large that we cannot fence the place. So, telling them not to come will not work and they come in large numbers, sometimes with 1,000 or 2,000 marching together.
“That is why we may be exporting some of our solutions to West Africa with the support of FAO and World Bank; if necessary,” Ogbeh stated.
Meanwhile, Head of Livestock Development, ECOWAS, Dr. Vivian Iwar, said free movement of herders into Nigeria, against the ECOWAS protocol of possessing trans-border certificates was part of the security challenges facing the country.
She spoke during a panel discussion at a stakeholders’ peace forum in Abuja, blaming systemic failures in the country; particularly at the local government level for the growing herdsmen-farmers’ crisis.
She called for a strategic transition from pastoralism to livestock farming.
She argued that livestock development was too large to be left under the Ministry of Agriculture; hence her call for the establishment of meat or livestock commission.