Open Grazing May Explode Nigeria – Fani-Kayode

Former Minister of Aviation Femi Fani-Kayode has warned that the continued practice of open grazing may lead to the explosion of Nigeria.

Naija News recalls that 17 southern governors had after a meeting in Delta State imposed a ban on open grazing in the region.

But President Muhammadu Buhari had directed states to revive cattle grazing routes across the country.

The president stated this during an interview with Arise Television which was aired last Thursday.

He disclosed that he has asked Nigeria’s Attorney General, Abubakar Malami to begin the process of recovering land from persons who have converted cattle grazing routes for their personal use.

Buhari said the grazing routes were designated in the 1st Republic when “Nigerians use to obey laws” but those routes had been converted.

“What I did was ask him to go and dig the gazette of the 1st Republic when people were obeying laws,” he said.

This did not go down well with Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State who kicked against the practice of open grazing.

Akeredolu noted that cattle grazing routes do not reflect the demands of a 21st-century state as things have changed.

The Nigerian Senate through its spokesperson, Senator Ajibola Basiru, also rejected moves to open grazing routes in the country.

In a post on his Twitter handle on Tuesday, Fani-Kayode described the practice of open grazing as the biggest threat to Nigeria’s security.

He wrote: “The practice of open grazing & the propostion & insistence of the usage of so-called “cattle routes” throughout the country is the biggest threat to national security in Nigeria.

“If we do not put a stop to both it is only a question of time before the entire country explodes.”

“The suggestion that the right of cows supercedes the rights of human beings is absurd and has no basis in rationality, decency or logic.

“More importantly it has no place in the 21st century. It is a barbaric and primitive logic espoused only by those who belong to another world,” Fani-Kayode added.