Grazing Routes: Herding Nigeria into Needless Crisis

Ade Olabode

The closer we move to the expiration of the tenure of the current regime in Nigeria, the deeper the country sinks into more convoluted crises. For one, insecurity gets worse by the day. Despite the president holding countless security meetings and promising an end to the endemic insecurity in the land, there is still no security anywhere. The recent fatal attack by unknown gunmen at the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna, is symptomatic of the mess we are in. And when we add the bloody sectarian killings going on in Plateau and Benue states, with the nonstop kidnappings in other states across the country, Nigeria never had it so bad.

These security crises, coupled with our hydra-headed economic woes and rampant industrial strikes, especially in the health sector, should give any president sleepless nights. Therefore, what is expected of our president under the current dire national conditions is to find ways of alleviating the crises and dousing tension. But the actions of President Muhammadu Buhari in recent times seem to be complicating matters, particularly as he is insisting on reactivating so-called grazing routes for Fulani herders across the country.

For some time now, open grazing of cattle has been a highly contentious issue causing problems and conflicts. Yet the president, instead of embracing the modern ranching method being canvassed by many, is hell-bent on maintaining the status quo that would make matters worse. Why? Does President Buhari really care about restoring peace and stability in Nigeria? It would be recalled that the president in June this year announced on an Arise TV interview that he had asked the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, to start the process of reclaiming designated grazing routes used by herders during the First Republic. There was public outcry against that announcement. But again, on August 21, it was disclosed that the president has approved the recommendations of a committee to revive 368 grazing routes across 25 states of the federation.

Well, the continued presidential insistence on reclaiming extinct grazing routes despite public outcry against the decision shows a government that is not ready to listen or embrace change for peace to prevail. It is also a contradiction of Miyetti Allahs position and earlier government position on allocating funds for ranching as a way of stemming the perpetual farmers-herders conflict. In March 2021, there was a news report in which the Fulani socio-cultural group, the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, asked the Federal Government to budget the sum of N150b for the ranching of cows, and the development of the entire livestock farming value chains in Nigeria. Also, Katsina State Governor Aminu Masari in July this year disclosed in media reports that Mr. President had graciously approved the sum of N6.25 billion for ranch development purposes in Katsina State.

If Miyetti Allah thus supports ranching as indicated by their request for FG grant of N150b and President Buhari himself approved N6.25b for ranching in his home state, why now the insistence on reviving old grazing routes in the country? Are ranching and grazing routes now mutually inclusive? Can herders be ranching in one place and still be grazing cattle from one part of the country to the other? There is a whole lot of contradictions in the body language of the FG that raises eyebrows as the president presses ahead with reclaiming extinct grazing routes across 25 states. The development is a recipe for disaster which might spiral out of control and engulf the country in avoidable crisis.

Meanwhile, it is in the bid to avert crisis that the Southern Governors’ Forum has recently agreed and announced to ban open grazing in their respective states.

Setting September 1 as the deadline for the implementation of the ban on open grazing, all the 17 Southern state governors had issue a communiqué, first in Asaba and later in Lagos, calling on the FG to support willing states to develop alternative and modern livestock management systems. The forums argument for the ban on open grazing is that development and population growth have put pressure on available land and increased the prospects of conflict between migrating herders and local populations in the South.

The encroachment of armed herders, criminals and bandits on Southern region farmlands is also said to be partly responsible for the terrifying insecurity in the country. Will the reclaiming of old grazing routes as wanted by the president not worsen insecurity and even instigate a constitutional crisis with possible collision with Southern Governors who have rights over lands in their states? How will the FG circumvent the law and arm-twist the Southern Governors into giving up their lands for reviving old grazing routes, when renowned lawyer Femi Falana, SAN, has confirmed that the government only has control over FCT land under the Land Use Act?

Except there is a hidden agenda behind the relentless push for reclaiming so-called 368 grazing routes across 25 states, the president should abort the mission in the interest of peace and stability in the country. Since major stakeholders like Miyetti Allah, Southern Governors and even Northern Governors Forum have disowned open grazing and advocated modern ranching as the way to go, going back to grazing routes anachronism would amount to government deliberately plunging the nation into crisis. The president has more than enough national crises on his plate and should be careful about how history judges him on prejudicially prioritizing the interests of Fulani herdsmen over the rights and safety of others. If Nigerians have their say and President Buhari still has his way, will he be able to protect the Fulani herders against backlash if a new non-Fulani government takes over power from 2023?

Olabode, Chairman of Media Specialties Group, wrote in from Lagos.