By Charles Okoh
Easily the greatest casualty, in the history of this otherwise great nation, is the murder of truth, justice, fair play and equality on the altar of hypocrisy sycophancy, tribalism, nepotism, religious bigotry, etc. Now, to speak the truth is to risk being seen as an enemy of the state and a saboteur. But the truth has a way of always coming back to haunt those who seek to bury it.
Nigeria is a lie that has been told for several years. It is a
country that is built on falsehood, injustice and inequality. But truth is,
until we are able to come to terms with this reality, we will continue to
wander aimlessly and other tiny nations will continue to take advantage of our
misfortune. Truth remains constant.
Clearly, one truth we seem unprepared to face is the reality that Nigeria has been held back because we have not learnt to be dispassionate with national issues and forge a common front in addressing issues of national significance and importance.
Whether by deliberate government policy or coincidence, most of the problems confronting the leadership of the President Muhammadu Buhari government revolve around the excessive attention paid to the activities of cattle rearers. The entire nation has been held spellbound, transfixed and in animated suspension while we discussed establishment of the National Grazing Reserve Bill 2016, Cattle Ranching System 2018, Cattle Colony 2018, RUGA 2019, as well as the reintroduction of the National Water Resources Bill, after it was rejected by the 8th National Assembly, by the executive in 2020.In January 2018, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development,
Chief Audu Ogbeh, disclosed in Abuja that the Federal Government is putting
everything in place to establish cattle colonies that would solve the continued
herdsmen/farmers conflict in parts of the country.
According to him, the cattle colony project would start
immediately following the offer of five hectares of land by 16 states in the
country. While Ogbeh did not disclose the 16 states that had donated hectares
of land for the project, many of the governors said they were not consulted and
therefore not part of the scheme.
Meanwhile, the only reason pastoralists and farmers conflicts
have continued unabated is largely as a result of the lack of political will to
address the issues dispassionately. The effect of climate change and
desertification is a major causal factor leading to trans-human movement from
North to the South. Since climate change and other associated factors are
beyond what farmers or herders could address, it behooves on the federal
government and state governments to address the issue.
However, government at all levels has demonstrated near absence
of the needed political will to proffer lasting solutions to the ongoing
conflict between the herdsmen and farmers. Political leaders have failed to
invoke appropriate legislations to be backed by action that would define rules
and limits for parties involved in the conflict.
This conflict has been further compounded by the fact that the
President, Muhammadu Buhari, has for some inexplicable reasons, refused to rise
above clannish interest to understand that in this age and time, it’s totally
unacceptable for the nation to operate open grazing. The truth is that not only
is it no longer fashionable, it is not even in the interest of the cattle and
their owners to subject the cattle to such nomadic grazing method when it would
have been more beneficial to all if they are accommodated in ranches, with all
the concomitant benefits therein.
The National Livestock Transformation Plan (2018-2027), was
inaugurated in Gongoshi Grazing Reserve in Mayo-Belwa Local Government Area of
Adamawa, in September 2019.
The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, during the inauguration
said the plan was designed to run from 2019-2028 as part of Federal
Government’s initiative in collaboration with states under the auspices of the
National Economic Council.
According to the vice president, the plan would be implemented
as a collaboration project between the Federal and State governments, farmers,
pastoralists and private investors.
“In this plan, the State Government or private investors provide
the land; the federal government does not and will not take any land from a
state or local government. Any participating state will provide the land and
its own contribution to the project. The federal government merely
supports.
“This solves the problem of cattle grazing into and destroying
farmlands. It ensures a practical response to the pressures on water and pasture
by forces of climate change,” Osinbajo said.
Meanwhile, governors of the southern states last week mustered
the needed courage, or if you like political will after individual attempts to
address the lingering cattle rearers and farmers clashes when it met in Delta
State and agreed to ban open grazing across the 17 states.
They also called on President Muhammadu Buhari, to as a matter
of urgency and importance, address Nigerians on the frightening state of
insecurity across the nation and convoke a national dialogue. They also called
for urgent and bold steps to be taken to restructure the Nigerian federation to
berth evolution of state police, review of revenue allocation formula in favour
of the sub-national governments and creation of other institutions, which
legitimately advance commitment to and practice of true federalism.
In a 12-point communiqué read by the Forum’s Chairman,
Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, at the end of its four hours meeting, the meeting noted
that in deference to the sensitivities of the peoples, there is need to review
appointments into Federal Government agencies, including security agencies to
reflect federal character as Nigeria’s overall population is
heterogeneous.
As would be expected, of all the issues raised by the southern
governors which are germane to placing the nation on the path of growth if
looked at dispassionately, the issue around open grazing has been generating
more heat. What it means is that for some yet to be explained reasons, it is
either open grazing or there will be no Nigeria.
What can be more senseless than the position of Prof. Usman
Yusuf, former executive secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme
(NHIS), that Southern governors did not consult Fulani leaders before arriving
at the ban of open grazing; what can be more insolent and insensitive than
this? Can Yusuf tell us who the then northern governors consulted before
imposing Sharia and who have they been consulting before destroying businesses
of southerners in the north in the name of implementing sharia laws?
Can Prof Yusuf also tell us if he was ever a nomadic cattle
rearer and how he ended becoming a professor or how many of his children are
involved in that trade? Is it not about time our hypocritical northern leaders
began to redress the abject squalor they have subjected their people?
How far the southern governors are willing to go in pursuing
these lofty agendas of theirs is still left to be seen. Anybody who means well
for the country should urge the governors on and ensure that for once, we are
seen to align with the rest of the civilized world. We cannot be held back by
narrow-minded ethnic champions or religious bigots who are only interested in
their personal pursuits at the detriment of the collective good of the
nation.
Those insisting on open grazing must have to tell the nation
what agenda they are pursuing. How can a reasonable person in this day and age
insist that we must continue to contest with living spaces with animals and
that they have the right to continue to ravage other people’s property and
means of livelihood and get away with it? And that even when they kill the
farmers for resisting their attempts to despoil their farms, they are justified
and excused by the powers that be. This is the reason there has not been any
clear cut policy thus far to address this problem.
It is also as a result of the fact that the federal government
from its actions and body language seem to share the same sentiment with the
advocates of open grazing that this crisis has remained protracted. It’s about
time we all realized that Nigeria belongs to us all and that no ethnic or
religious group is superior to others.
Sadly, President Buhari has not shown leadership in this
direction.
*Okoh is a commentator on public issues
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