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| President Muhammadu Buhari |
President Muhammadu
Buhari said Monday in Abuja that poverty, injustice and the lack of job
opportunities were mainly responsible for inter-communal and intra-communal
conflicts in Nigeria.
Media
report continues:
Speaking
while receiving a delegation from the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, an
organization active in the promotion of peace in Nigeria, President Buhari said
to achieve enduring peace in the country, greater effort must be made to
eradicate poverty and injustice.
The
president described ethnic and religious conflicts in parts of the country as
outward manifestations of underlying problems of joblessness, injustice and
poverty.
On
conflicts between farmers and herdsmen, President Buhari said that a plan to
map out grazing areas will soon be presented to the Nigerian Governors Forum as
a temporary solution to the frequent conflicts until cattle owners are
persuaded to adopt other means of rearing their cattle.
Repeated
clashes between Fulani herdsmen and farmers have led to thousands of deaths.
On
Sunday, the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, in charge of Vunokilang Police
Station in Girei Local Government Area of Adamawa State was killed alongside 30
other people in an attack by suspected Fulani herdsmen.
The
suspected herdsmen raided four villages: Demsare, Wunamokoh, Dikajam and
Taboungo in what is believed to be a vengeance mission over an existing feud
with farmers in the area.
Several
houses and other property in the villages were also burnt in the attack.
The
DPO, Okozie Okereofor, a Chief Superintendent of Police, who was deployed to
the state about two months ago, was said to have been ambushed when he was
leading police officers to the disputed area. He was killed in the eventual
shootout with his assailants.
The
Police in Adamawa have confirmed the killing of Mr. Okereofor.
“The
DPO and his team were attacked while on official duty in the affected villages
where he was killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen,” the spokesperson of the
Adamawa State Police Command, Othman Abubakar, said.
Mr.
Buhari commended the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue for the relative peace
that had returned to Plateau State as well as their on-going activity in
Southern Kaduna.
He
agreed with the centre that dialogue was always preferable to the use of law
and order mechanisms and force in the resolution of conflicts.
The
Executive Director of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, David Harland, told
President Buhari that following their success in facilitating the settlement of
the inter-ethnic and inter-religious conflicts in Plateau State, the group had
moved to Kaduna State.
He expressed the hope that
the techniques used in bringing peace to Plateau State can soon be deployed to
deal with the Boko Haram insurgency and other conflicts in Nigeria.
Cattle Grazing:
FG Unveils Plan For Growing Grass
The
Punch reports that the implementation of the Federal Government’s plan for a
special grass cultivation programme across the nation as a means of stemming
incessant clashes between farmers and nomadic cattle herdsmen may begin soon.
The
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, gave the hint
when the he received the Surveyor-General of the Federation, Mr. Ebisintei
Awudu.
Ogbeh
said the resolve of government would improve agribusiness in the livestock
sector by expanding it to include commercial production of grass in the
southern part of the country to feed cattle.
According
to him, it would bring to an end the roaming of the cattle-rearers and
perennial conflicts between the pastoralists and crop farmers in different
parts of the nation.
To
this end, Ogbeh disclosed that some grasses that produced 28% crude protein,
taken from Africa to Brazil and which had been subjected to 16 years of
research would be brought in for use under this programme.
“By
the end of April this year, the first grass supply may have arrived or could be
on the way to the country.
“We
are taking a radical step and we are beginning now. We are going to grow grass
on a very large scale across the country,” he said.
The
minister emphasized that the continued existence of cattle grazing and stock
routes would continue to breed conflicts and deaths.
To
reverse the untoward trends, Ogbeh stressed that cattle roaming had to end. “We
just have to grow grass. The largest cattle ranch in the world is in Saudi
Arabia with 153,000 cows, and the country sells milk to other gulf states. But
they buy grass from Sudan and US, and are planning to buy more from Ethiopia.”
He
noted that the north was not yet a desert, saying, “It is only arid.”
Besides,
he said the north had many dams that could be used for irrigation and
cultivation of grass, in addition to what would be done in the south.
“If
certain countries sell grass to Saudi Arabia, there is no reason we cannot grow
grass in Nigeria in the south and sell to the north of this country.”
While
noting that the old grazing reserve system was no longer feasible as states
were having problems with it, Ogbeh said if the grass programme was well
implemented, Nigeria should have no roaming of cattle in another five years.
Meanwhile,
the Surveyor-General of the Federation, Awudu, said that his office had mapped
the entire country and had its satellite image at 2.5 metre resolution.
He
said his office was ready to assist the Ministry of Agriculture in survey and
mapping of soils, placement of canals and other infrastructure, and site
selection for animal husbandry.
On
his part, a director in the office of the surveyor-general, Barde Jatau, who
was also on the team, stressed the need for collaboration between the ministry
and the office.
Jatau said, “The office had
collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture on geospatial imagery,
which will play a key role in site selection for animal husbandry.” 
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