Count Benue Out of  Grazing Reserve Plan, Ortom Tells Presidency

Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, has said the state will not be involved in any process of rehabilitation of grazing reserves and routes as planned by President Muhammadu Buhari, since it had not been gazetted for any of the above processes of cattle rearing.

Recall that the Senior Special Assistant to the president on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, in a statement on Monday indicated that Buhari would soon implement the recommendation of the Minister of Agriculture, Sabo Nanono, which included the rehabilitation of grazing reserves in states as panacea to the persistent farmer-herder crisis.

However, Governor Ortom, in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, CPS, Terver Akase and made available to newsmen in Makurdi, said President Buhari should count Benue out of grazing reserve plan, saying such plan would not be welcome in the state.

He described the choice of reopening grazing routes as the only solution by the president as shocking and a misplacement of priority considering the worsening security situation in the country which requires a national dialogue to address the fundamental issues that have led to the present state of affairs.

“The position of Mr. President is patently at variance with the position of all the regions of the country who agreed that open grazing of animals have become old-fashioned and should be jettisoned to pave way for ranching.

“The present moves by the president goes to shows that there is a hidden agenda which only the president is aware of.

“On February 9, this year, the Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) met and agreed that the current system of herding mainly by open grazing is no longer sustainable, in view of growing urbanisation and population of the country. The Forum consequently resolved to sensitize herders on the need to adopt ranching as the new method of animal husbandry.

“The 17 Governors of Southern Nigeria rose from their meeting in Asaba on May 11 also this year, with a ban on open grazing in the entire region. The Southern Governors equally adopted ranching as the alternative method of rearing animals.

“As it stands, the Presidency is the lone hand pushing for the continuation of open grazing and the return of cattle routes of 1950s and 60s. The Presidency has, by its endorsement of open grazing, emboldened armed herders who lay claim to all lands in Nigeria as belonging to Fulani, hence their invasion of farming communities and killing of original owners of such lands,” Ortom stressed.

The governor further stressed the fact that grazing reserves or cattle routes are no longer tenable in the 21st century when Nigeria’s population far exceeds that of the fifties at a time these routes were contemplated; moreso as those routes have been taken over by airports, roads, schools, hospitals, as well as markets, houses and other human activities.

He said Benue people have embraced ranching as the viable alternative to open grazing and there is no going back on the resolve which he said prohibits open grazing which he said is a reaction to the incessant killings by armed herdsmen.

“While we may not stop the Federal Government’s plan to rehabilitate grazing reserves or create cattle routes in other states, we wish to make it clear that no land in Benue State has been gazetted for grazing routes, grazing reserves, cattle colonies and Ruga settlements. Benue is therefore not part of the grazing reserves rehabilitation programme of the Federal Government.

“We expect the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to weigh the negative consequences its recommendation will have on the unity and security of the nation and advise Mr President that Nigerians are not on the same page with him regarding the matter of open grazing. It is not too late to salvage the situation.

“We are concerned about the plight of millions of farmers who have been displaced as a result of herders’ attacks and are now in IDP camps; a development which is already adversely affecting food production.

“Benue State has over one million displaced people who are mostly farmers, and the task of returning them to their ancestral homes is what should bother the Ministry of Agriculture and other agencies of the Federal Government,” Ortom said.