Opinion: Open Grazing and Nigeria’s vanishing value for Human lives

By Joseph Onajevwe,

 

President Muhammadu Buhari’s statement during his interview with Arise TV and later NTA has elicited mixed reactions from Nigerians. It is expectedly so more so when the issues raised were fundamental to the fundamental question of peaceful co-existence and security in Nigeria. Two of the issues Mr President touched on were the ‘dot in the circle’ remarks about the position of Ndigbo in Nigeria and his determination to enforce open grazing across Nigeria against the stance of the Southern Governors against the practice.

President Buhari trivialized the worth of the Igbo nation in Nigeria in Dot in the circle remarks which is everything but presidential. He exhibited so much venom against the activities of IPOB which to the rest of Nigeria is a lesser evil than the herdsmen and Boko-Haram sect. Before 1960 when Nigeria gained Independence, the cry of the people was for independence from the British colonial masters over perceived marginalization. Instead of addressing what is fueling the agitations of our Eastern brothers, President Buhari is breathing fire and brimstone.

All he had to say was ‘’That IPOB is just like a dot in a circle. Even if they want to exit, they will have no access to anywhere. And the way they are spread all over the country, having businesses and property, I don’t think IPOB knows what they are talking about. In any case, we say we’ll talk to them in the language that they understand. We’ll organize the police and the military to pursue them.” If Britain had organized the police and military to pursue the freedom fighters, Nigerian’s independence wouldn’t have been possible in 1960.

As remarked by Festus Adedayo in his piece on ‘Buhari’s Dot in the Circle and Makinde’s AK 47’, ‘’If anyone was undecided whether Buhari was at the roots of Nigeria’s worsening ethnic crises in the last six years or so, that Arise TV interview removed all doubts. It revealed a president whose mind is a fertile breeding ground for viral ethnic divisiveness, an infection that is without any possible hope of redemption’’.

To this writer, Buhari got it all wrong with his classification of Igbos as a Dot in the circle. That the agitation for self-determination and independence is louder in the east does not in any way limit such tendencies to the east. Aside from the Fulani overlords who are running the country like a fiefdom with a supreme hold on the reign of power, most sections of the country are disenchanted with the Nigerian brand of democracy which concentrates power in a few hands with little or no input from the masses. That is the story for another day.

On the question of Open Grazing, Buhari had this to say: ‘’What I did was ask governors to go and dig the gazette of the first republic. There are cattle routes and grazing areas. If you allow your cattle to stray into any farm, you are arrested. The problem is trying to understand the culture of the cattle rearers. The Nigerian cattle rearer has nothing else apart from machetes and sticks to cut trees for cattle. Fulani herders from outside Nigeria (who look the same as Nigerians) move to Nigeria and they look like they are from Nigeria and some of them carry AK 47’’.

From the foregoing remarks, it is obvious Buhari was not prepared to let go of the idea of the vexatious open grazing phenomenon which has resulted in fatal confrontations with local farmers all over Nigeria. The condemnable practice had been on for many years until AK 47-wielding marauders took over the trade and visited untold pains and destruction in many places. His advice to the governors for a revisit of the grazing routes as created in the first republic is misplaced and clearly painted Buhari as a man who is not in touch with reality.

President Buhari’s decision to reclaim all officially gazetted grazing reserves/routes should be placed on the evaluation to determine where exactly these gazetted cattle routes are located. First, those grazing routes were created mainly for localities in the northern parts of Nigeria. In the entire southern parts of Nigeria, it is only Oyo state that has 2 gazetted cattle routes/reserves. The rest, including the Eastern part of the country, do not have.

Studies have revealed that of the 140 gazetted grazing reserves in those days, Adamawa state has 31 reserve/routes; Bauchi state is 27; Borno is 15; Gombe, 4; Jigawa, 2; Kaduna, 2; Kebbi, 1; Kogi, 1; Kwara, 1; Nasarawa, 7; Niger,  2; Plateau, 1; Sokoto, 8; Taraba, 9; Yobe, 17; Zamfara, 6, FCT, 4 and Oyo state, 2.

One is not very sure PMB is aware of this distribution. He may be aware that there are gazetted grazing reserves, but if he knew that what is officially gazetted does not even include almost the entire south, he wouldn’t be so interested in still pursuing the agenda of reclaiming these reserves. Even in those days when these reserves and grazing routes were created, the committee recommended the adoption of a more sedentary method of cattle rearing or ranching as is practised in the developed world.

Buhari’s stance is no solution to the separatist warlords whose activities are gaining currency and sympathizers on daily basis. People are getting disenchanted and disillusioned and only a proportionate distribution of power and wealth across the federating units could assuage the minds of the people. Deploying the military to chase separatists, who view Buhari as placing a greater premium on cows than human lives, is further exacerbating the security challenges in Nigeria. His statesmanly demeanour in addressing the grave issues of insecurity in Nigeria and the vaunting escapades of herdsmen and bandits trivializes the murderous inclinations of the cattle rearers.

This writer supports in its entirety, the position of the southern Governors on open grazing which debases our environment, breeds grave discontent and avoidable confrontations between herdsmen and farmers and creates a fertile opportunity for the perpetration of grievous crimes by the marauding cattle rearers. Ranching should be adopted by rearers at owners’ expense instead of exposing the local population to the shenanigans of herdsmen who seemingly lack value for human lives in their utterances and operations.

 

Joseph Onajevwe writes from Ginuwa Road, Warri, Delta State.