By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
The Nigerian military has taken concrete steps to protect farmers and other stakeholders in the agricultural value chains in the North-Central, North-West, and North-East zones of the country in the current farming season.
To this end, the High Command of Military Joint Operations codenamed Operation Safe Haven (OPSH) has organised a seminar for critical stakeholders towards achieving a successful farming season in its Joint Operations Area (JOA) cutting across the entire Plateau State, LGAs of Southern Kaduna and two LGAs of Bauchi State.
Media Information Officer, Operation Safe Haven, Major Samson Nantip Zhakom, in a statement yesterday said the seminar with the theme: “Peaceful Coexistence: Panacea for a Successful Farming Season” was held at the 3 Division Auditorium, Maxwell Khobe Cantonment Jos.
The event which is part of OPSH’s non-kinetic approach towards ensuring a peaceful coexistence in the JOA, he said, drew critical stakeholders from all sides of the divide across all parts of the JOA.
In his welcome address, the Commander of Operation Safe Haven, and GOC 3 Division Nigerian Army, Maj-Gen AE Abubakar, stressed the importance of the seminar which would facilitate a hitch-free farming season.
The commander also highlighted the crucial role played by the agricultural sector in the overall development of any nation.
He further highlighted the nexus between food security and national security and urged the stakeholders to create an enabling environment for farming and herding activities to be carried out side by side without fear or conflict.
The commander also warned misguided persons who may wish to disrupt farming activities this year to rethink as OPSH will not hesitate to decisively deal with such criminals in line with extant laws.
He decried the spate of farm destructions and attacks on cattle in the past two months which have further aggravated tension in the affected communities.
The resource emphasised the need to uphold the sanctity of human lives by desisting from indiscriminate attacks.
They also collectively urged the participants to tolerate one another and learn to forgive grievances from the past as reprisals would only lead to further losses which would further aggravate poverty.
The resource persons also pointed out that a successful farming season was only possible in an atmosphere of tolerance and respect for one another.
They also endorsed the Bottom-Top Crisis Resolution Mechanism of OPSH which ensures that all peace efforts are transmitted to the lowest echelon and consequently advised the participants to use all avenues to pass the message of peace to their followers and wards.
They urged the participants to create an enabling environment for both farming and herding activities to thrive.
The Special Guest of Honour and Governor of Plateau State, Caleb Mutfwang, lauded the efforts of OPSH in bringing peace to the three states in the JOA.
Represented by his Special Adviser on Security, Brig-Gen GG Shippi (retd), the governor promised to continually support security agencies with critical enablers within the states’ resources to carry out their responsibilities.
The governor of Kaduna State, Senator Uba Sani, represented by his Special Adviser on Peace and Conflict Resolution, Mr Atiku Sankey, also pledged to continue to support the military to rid the states of criminalities.
Present at the seminar were top government officials, heads of security agencies, serving and retired senior military officers, traditional rulers, farmers/herders, youth and women leaders as well as civil society organisations.
The high point of the seminar was the interactive session during which participants lauded the initiative of Operation Safe Haven and promised to do their best to ensure peaceful coexistence towards attaining a successful farming season in their communities.
At the end of the seminar, patrol motorcycles were presented to Neighborhood Watches by OPSH for anti-farm destruction patrols in areas with high incidents of farm destruction to complement the efforts of security agencies
•Northern senators kick as Senate passes bill to ban open grazing
The Senate passed for second reading a Bill that seeks to ban open grazing and establish a national agency for the regulation and management of ranches in Nigeria.
The Bill titled: “A Bill to establish a National Animal Husbandry and Ranches Commission for the regulation, management, preservation, and control of ranches throughout Nigeria; and for connected purposes, 2024.”
It was sponsored by Senator Titus Zam, an All Progressives Congress member representing Benue North-West Senatorial District in the National Assembly.
Zam in his lead debate noted the increasing wave of violent conflicts that erupted from pastoralists and farmers’ interaction in Nigeria.
He said such conflicts had assumed a war-like dimension “with a far-reaching negative impact on the people and country as a whole.”
He said the Senate cannot afford to look on while the country burns into ashes as a result of violent clashes between sedentary farmers and nomadic herders.
The Senator said, “As stakeholders in the Nigeria project and elected representatives of the people, doing so would amount to abdication of our statutory and leadership responsibilities.
He said the menace of farmers and herders crises could easily be cured through a legislative therapy banning open grazing in Nigeria.
Zam lamented that the Nigerian State had continued to pay lip service to the challenge of farmers’ and herders’ altercation without addressing it in concrete terms in line with international best practices of animal husbandry.
He said, “Every effort (was) is laced with manoeuvres that speak to our ethnic and political biases or sentiments, thus resisted by the people.
“This 10th Senate has a date with history. We must rise in one accord to sort out this problem of herders-farmers violent conflicts that would if allowed to linger longer, consume even more lives and properties than the civil war of 1967-1970.
“Therefore, now is the time to put a permanent stop to the endless circle of attacks and counterattacks by our people and their external collaborators.
“Now is the time to adopt international best practices in animal husbandry. Now is the time to bring about a law to stop open grazing. It is old fashioned, hazardous, burdensome, and must be discarded.”
He said the Bill proposes ranching as the only viable alternative for cattle breeding in Nigeria and advocates for the urgent need to transition from traditional livestock-keeping methods to modern methods that are safer and healthier for both the herds and the herders.
He said the Bill further proposes that ranches would be established in the pastoralist’s state of origin without forcing it upon other states or communities that do not have pastoralists as citizens.
He said interested parties in the livestock business must seek and obtain approvals from their host communities to establish ranches for peaceful co-existence.
Senators Eyinnaya Abaribe, Danjuma Goje, Senator Garba Musa Maidoki, Senator Barau Jibrin, Senator Adamu Aliero, and Kawu Sumaila supported the Bill.
They however objected to a clause in the lead debate which said pastoralists should establish ranches in their state of origin.
Abaribe said he was of the view that the bill could be a solution to the clashes between farmers and herders if properly managed.
He recommended the amendment of the constitution and the Land Use Act to simplify the management of lands within the respective states.
Abaribe noted that while some herders were peaceful and engaged in the legitimate animal business, there were also criminal elements sponsored to destablise communities.
“Farmers are under threat, and what that has led to is the food crisis that we face in Nigeria today,” he added.
Making his contribution, Senator Sunday Karimi (Kogi-West), suggested that the best way to go was for every state to establish ranches.
He said, “I appreciate my colleague for introducing this bill. This is a national problem, and we all know this. We can’t just sit and do nothing as responsible parliamentarians. Before now, the North had cattle routes, which had been taken over by property owners. Now cattle roam the whole country. All states must be ready to establish cattle ranches.”
A former Governor of Gombe State, Senator Mohammed Goje, drove the north’s position further when he observed that the bill was discriminatory by proposing to restrict the herders to a particular geographical location.
“There are many angles to this issue of farmers and herders. We have to tackle the problem holistically. These Fulanis are Nigerians,” he maintained.
The same view was held by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Sports, Senator Suleiman Abdulrahman-Kawu, who said the bill would breach the constitutional rights of the herders.
He said, “The bill is totally against the constitution of Nigeria. The bill will even compound the problem of the herders and the farmers.
“You can’t propose a law to attend to a particular group or section of the country only. This bill is not holistic and we will fight it till the end.”
However, the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, while rounding off the debate, urged all senators to be calm by letting the bill go for a public hearing.
“We must hold a public hearing and bring all the stakeholders to have a say, including cattle rarer and the state governments”, Akpabio remarked shortly before he rammed his gavel for the second reading.
Akpabio also assured senators that everything possible would be done to reach a consensus on the proposals contained in the bill, including amending the Land Use Act where necessary.
But Senator Adamu Aliero, any law that would restrict the movement of any Nigerian person and his property would be a direct breach of Section 41 of the Constitution.
Senate President however said that offensive clauses not in line with the constitution should be expunged from the Bill during public hearings and national summit on security already agreed by the Senate.
Heated debate on the bill further divided the Senate.
The division among senators on the bill centred around infractions on relevant provisions of the 1999 Constitution, and protocols of the Economic Community of West African States ( ECOWAS ) as regards the free movements of persons and their property from State to State and country to country.
Garba Musa Maidoki (PDP, Kebbi-South), and Abba Moro (PDP Benue-South), supported the bill.
Others like Senators Adamu Aliero (PDP Kebbi-Central), Suleiman Kawu (NNPP, Kano-South), and Danjuma Goje (APC, Gombe-Central), kicked against the bill.
Aliero in opposing the bill, raised a constitutional point of order by quoting section 41 of the 1999 Constitution which gives all Nigerians free movement into any state with their property.
He specifically told the Senate that it was wrong for the sponsor of the bill, to propose the establishment of ranches in the state of origin of pastoralists alone.
Kawu in his opposition to the bill, said it was totally against provisions of the Nigeria Constitution.
“This bill is against provisions of the constitution and in fact, it will compound the crisis of herders/ farmers in Nigeria, if allowed to become law,” he said.
As a way of shutting down the bill, the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Jibrin Barau (APC Kano-North), said he had advised the sponsor to step it down to limit the establishment of Ranches to states of origin of pastoralists.
The bill however scaled second reading when put to voice votes by the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio after the refusal of the sponsor to step it down.
It was, thereafter, forwarded to the Senate Committees on Agriculture, Trade and Investment, Judiciary and Legal Matters for more legislative inputs within the next four weeks.
