Tor Tiv: Cattle Ranching Only Solution to Herdsmen/Farmers Clashes

The Tor Tiv and Chairman, Benue Council of Chiefs, Prof. James Ayatse, has said cattle ranching was the only solution to the incessant clashes between herdsmen and farmers.

Ayatse said in a statement saturday in Makurdi that the ranches, aside minimising the clashes, had multiplier effects like employment for youths that would work in companies that would produce feeds for the animals.

The statement, signed by Mr. Freddie Adamgbe, his media assistant, quoted the monarch as urging the Federal Government to enact a legislation that would effectively back up ranching so as to save lives and protect farms from destruction by cattle.

He commended the Benue House of Assembly for passing the Anti-Open Grazing Bill, and assured the lawmakers of the full support of the Benue Council of Chiefs.

Ayatse also spoke on the violence in some parts of the country and blamed that on the poor economy and joblessness among the youths. Noting that most youths were neither educated nor trained in any skill, he called for a population policy that would regulate births and ensure that Nigerians gave birth to only children they could cater for.

“Part of the nation’s problem is that our population is far beyond our resources; we bring on children without any definite plan for their future. Parents must limit the number of their children to a figure they can feed, train and cater for. When children are thrown into the streets, they get desperate for survival and become willing tools in the hands of desperate politicians. Such youths are equipped with dangerous weapons and are used as thugs to achieve evil schemes,” he said.

He tasked government to initiate steps to recover arms currently in the wrong hands so as to minimise violence and save the lives of Nigerians, according to a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) report.