Buhari Govt Begins Recovery Of Grazing Routes For Herders
Despite widespread opposition from Nigerians, President Muhammadu Buhari’s government has begun to retrace and restore grazing paths across the country.
After a conference in Delta State, 17 southern governors placed a ban on open grazing in the region, according to NEWS DIRECT.
President Muhammadu Buhari, on the other hand, has urged states to re-establish cow grazing routes throughout the country.
This was said by the president in an interview with Arise Television that aired on Thursday.
He said he has ordered Nigeria’s Attorney General, Abubakar Malami, to start the process of reclaiming land from people who have modified cattle grazing routes for their own use.
The grazing paths, according to Buhari, were established during the First Republic when “Nigerians used to observe regulations,” but they have since been converted.
He explained, “What I did was urge him to go dig up the gazette of the First Republic when people were observing laws.”
Many Nigerians, notably governors from the north and south, have expressed opposition to the federal government’s plan.
Unfazed, the federal administration has started identifying and reclaiming stock routes, also known as grazing routes, that herders use to graze their livestock.
According to the Federal Government, this was done to alleviate the conflict between herders and farmers.
Despite the fact that some of the routes have been encroached upon owing to human activity, the government has begun the process of identifying monuments along the routes in order to reclaim them as cow grazing areas.
Officials from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development confirmed to The PUNCH on Friday that the routes would be recovered.
They also noted that routes that have been encroached upon due to the installation of public infrastructure may be excluded from the recovery effort.
Winnie Lai-Solarin, the acting Director of FMARD’s Animal Husbandry Department, indicated that while cattle ranching was one of the key choices considered for herders, not every pastoralist could afford it at this time.
She said, “There are some stock routes that we have across the country, and in the past, we had monuments along these stock routes, particularly the primary stock routes.
“And in the course of farming or other human activities along those stock routes, the monuments were altered, but we know where they are. So we are saying that some of them can be retraced.
“And this is particularly for areas that are not encroached upon as of now. The pastoralists know the routes, and on some of those routes, you will see the pieces of the monuments along them.”
Lai-Solarin added, “So for those that are not encroached upon and are not in conflict zones, we will go ahead to retrace and guide the pastoralists along them. We didn’t get to where we are today in one day and so we cannot expect that every pastoralist should suddenly start ranching now.
“Some would still have to move but let’s keep the movement as safe as possible and in areas that are not conflict zones. That is what I am saying. We are not going to retrace stock routes where there are infrastructures that are for the public good.”
