Herdsmen/Farmers Crisis: FG To Seek Solution From ECOWAS

The Federal Government may has indicated plans to seek a regional solution to the lingering herdsmen-farmers’ dispute in several parts of Nigeria.

The proposed plan is based on the recommendation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to hold a regional conference at  the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) level.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh had during a recently held press briefing on livestock development in Nigeria, restated the government commitment to ensure a society where everyone would live in peace, devoid of clashes and killings.

Ogbeh said:” “We hope that if and when we deal with this problem, we can export some of our solutions to our next door neighbours especially in West Africa, they too experience the same kind of things we are talking about.

“There are conflicts in Ghana, Togo, Cote d’Voire and Benin Republic between herdsmen and farmers. It is not unique to Nigeria.

“We are going to call a regional conference and since the ECOWAS treaty does not forbid movement of human beings and livestock; you really can’t block them.

“Even if you want to, the borders are so open, the country is so large that we cannot fence the place. So, telling them not to come will not work and they come in large numbers, sometimes with 1,000 or 2,000 marching together.

“That is why we may be exporting some of our solutions to West Africa with the support of FAO and World Bank; if necessary,” Ogbeh stated.

Meanwhile, a source at the foreign affairs ministry had told Daily Sun that the nation would likely host a regional summit over the herdsmen attacks this year, taking into cognizance the ECOWAS protocol on human and livestock movement.

Meanwhile, Head of Livestock Development, ECOWAS, Dr. Vivian Iwar, said free movement of herders into Nigeria, against the ECOWAS protocol of possessing trans-border certificates was part of the security challenges the country is tackling.

Dr. Iwar spoke durin a panel discussion at a stakeholders’ peace forum in Abuja, blaming systemic failures in the country; principally at the local government level for the growing herdsmen-farmers’ crisis.

She called for a strategic transition from pastoralism to livestock farming.

She argued that livestock development was too large to be left under the Ministry of Agriculture; hence her call for the establishment of meat or livestock commission.