Much ado about grazing reserves

Recent violent clashes between so-called itinerant Fulani herdsmen and sedentary ethnic farmers in some parts of the federation have elicited fierce debates on the need to control the influx of large herds of animals of the same kind that live, feed and travel as a group under the supervision of one or few people that provide the things the animals need for safety, protection and comfort.

The debates led to long and heated arguments that tapered into hot disagreements in which different views have been expressed angrily on the necessity for creation of grazing reserves or zones for the nomadic herders.
The divergence of opinion as to the absolute need for establishing the grazing zones for the nomads was borne out of the deep suspicion and mistrust of the nomadic herders by the ethnic farmers on whose land they encroach especially as that provides a vexatious situation warranting recriminations over destroyed crops by the herds and the consequent reprisals by the petulant farmers.

On so many occasions the ensuing confrontations ended brutally and even disastrously, with heavy fatalities on both sides. Sometimes the casualty figures in what both sides describe as wicked, wanton and barbaric attacks could reach as high as five-hundred people, and these certainly couldn’t have happed accidently, they were always premeditated and carefully planned and ruthlessly executed by faceless perpetrators that have always remained free and potently dangerous.
These occasional, but dangerous frictions between the so-called Fulani herdsmen and farmers in some remote rural areas repeatedly leave in their wake wanton destructions of lives and properties and were said to have been the reason why the federal government has contemplated the idea of creating grazing zones across the country with a view to checkmating such unnecessary clashes between the herders and the farmers. The government believes that the idea of establishing such grazing zones would be a solution to the frequent clashes.

Accordingly, the government would provide such amenities where the herdsmen would tend to their animals, without veering into adjacent farmsteads. That idea did not go down well with some people especially the state governors who had been facing mounting opposition against contemplating such deed, considered practically impossible by their kinsmen already blinded by tribal hatred and ethnic chauvinism.
However, not everyone in the South, where the cattle herders migrate seasonally tend to lend the tinge of ethnicity to the violent clashes made possible by the intolerable behaviors and attitudes of the two parties. They consider the seeming attacks blamed on Fulani herdsmen like any other national issue that deserves the understanding and cooperation of all Nigerians of goodwill. Such skirmishes have always been national issues that ultimately require national approach to resolve. Solutions to these problems are not far-fetched, they are quite easy to obtain.

The issue with the combatants is that they tend to readily give ethnic coloration to whatever happens and that makes the solution to it somewhat difficult.
As it is now, the incessant herder-farmer clash has once again brought to the fore the absolute need to formulate a national policy to settle the nomads and provide adequate facilities and cattle routes through which they could migrate to any part of the federation and even beyond. It has now been noted that grazing reserves have proven to be the most effective explanation and a self-sustaining solution for herders and pastoralists in many advanced and emergent countries of the world. The advantages of doing so include reintegrating herdsmen into the mainstream society and reducing factors that promote any conflict between them and other people.

In the same vein, Benue State Government which witnessed the eruption of such crisis more than any other state has also advocated the establishment of ranches, and not grazing reserves, as the best solution to the unending herder-farmer conflict. It noted that such has always been the practice in animal rearing which clearly eliminates factors that promote the occurrence of tension or hostility in their relationship in all the countries that adopt that practice.  Against this backdrop, therefore, it will be necessary to suggest a synergy between federal and state governments in the formulation and implementation of a policy that will encourage cattle herders to establish and settle on a ranch instead of living a nomadic life, since it is difficult to persuade any community to donate or sell any grazing land for the purpose of creating grazing area for the herders.
While states like Oyo argue that it is against the Land Use Acts to expropriate someone’s land for conversion as grazing reserve, the nomadic Fulani are insisting that some of the one-hundred-and-fifteen grazing areas allocated to them by the government, majority of which have been encroached by farmers,  be reverted back.

This may be akin to crying for a moon, but the government needs to immediately look into the matter with a view to addressing it for good. A practical step in the right direction towards arresting the menace of farmer-herder clash was taken with the presidential directives to expeditiously crack down on those armed herdsmen that embark on killing spree with false outward appearance.