Yakubu Busari,Jos
Member representing Jos South constituent in Plateau State House of Assembly, Hon Nyam Dareng has warned government of Nigeria against implementing policy of grazing reserve that can displaced more indigents of Plateau state
He accused Fulani herders of constantly causing mayhem to their host community without any provocation.
Hon Dareng stated this while granting interview to our correspondent at the Plateau State House of Assembly complex in Jos yesterday.
He decried that the state had been affected by internally displaced persons (IDP) which they are yet to be resettle but the government is now talking about grazing reserve.
According to him, the House of Assembly members were not consulted by the governor Simon Bako Lalong before they started the pronouncement.
” We have been leaving with the Fulani herdsmen for years their animals grazed in our farmland now that government want to forcefully acquire our fore fathers land in the name of grazing reserve clearly show that there is secret agenda to take over our ancestral home from us .
“This issue that are not clear policy ,no clear intention I don’t think as member I will want to partake federal government for governor Lalong to says ranches while the commissioner said is grazing reserve we are more confused ,he added.
He said, federal government has not denied herders from rearing their animals but the want to acquire people land is not clear so want to understand that the Fulani herdsmen don’t want to be cage in one place. .
We are advising federal and state governments to come out with a clearly defined policy regarding the grazing reserve because the Fulani are not agitating for grazing reserve ,government wake up to introduced and cause unnecessary hardship to natives.
Dareng disclosed that in Plateau state there are IDPs they have not been resettled back ,we see another deliberate plot to take over our forefathers lands by the government ,so we will resist any attempt .
He accused governor Lalong for not embarking on wider consultation with the general public, as a member representing Jos South we have not been consulted before the started making this pronouncement.
In Berom land we have leaving with these same Fulani since so government. Should caution the Fulani to stop attacking and killing of our innocent brothers who are harmless, he stated.
Hon Dareng pointed out the challenges of grazing reserve which causes fresh tension and misunderstanding between the settlers and the Plateau natives way back in 1998 leading to communal conflict is bill to explicitly wreaked havoc if government close down doors of dialogue with the internally displaced persons in the area.
It was alleged that the immediate past governors rendered their support to particular session to protect and defense them while those who were displaced couldn’t enjoy such privileges.
The member said, the nifty gritty of the Nigeria laws vis-à-vis their enactments only support few individuals so , therefore the Federal of Nigeria should arrest and prosecute some Fulani who making inflammatory statements.
Hon Dareng maintained that the officially disclosed number of 415 Grazing reserves which the claim only one- third is in used.
What about the remaining 270 been built on or farmers land Federal Government making provisions for the reserves across Katsina and Bauchi states as well as the FCT.
These three planned Reserves were meant to serve 15 million pastoralists and would involve demarcating 175,000 hectares of grazing land which would also include building veterinary service centres and constructing settlements for nomads to use en-route at the cost of 247m dollars.
On the strength of the foregoing, the government begun demarcating 1,400km livestock routes from Sokoto state in the Northwest to Oyo state in the Southwest and another 2000km route from Adamawa state in the Northeast to Calabar in the Delta region. Seven years after, the state of the grazing reserve remained unchanged. This means these reserves and routes were specific not even transcending Plateau.
Why will government not embark on completing what it begun, besides if it cannot fund the demarcation then, where is the proof that it has the capacity to carry on new ones? The former Minister of Agric. Dr Adesina Akinwumi had said that “of the current 415 grazing reserves across the country, only 141 has been gazette with less than 20 equipped with resources for pastoralists”.
A Presidential Committee was set then with the Minister as member and given specific terms of reference aimed at improving those existing Grazing Reserves. What happened to that Committee’s report? Recalled that Nigeria had earmarked #10b to the Great Green Wall Program (GGWP) to fight desert encroachment. That is a sure way of providing pasture to nomads. As for those edicts enacted which was making reference to, they were not applicable to all regions of Nigeria, and in recent times more proactive laws were made repealing archaic ones.
Reports reaching us has indicated that Goverment Darius Ishaku of Taraba state has categorically denied the claim of ceding land for the grazing reserve adding that his state is not in “any agreement or among the 11 states that donated 55,000 hectres of land for the implementation of Federal Government’s programme for grazing reserves”. First, it was Benue and Nassarawa that out rightly rejected it, now Taraba has formally disassociated itself from being a donor land to the program. All these states were component parts of Benue Plateau state of our own late J.D. Gomwalk. Are they walking out on their alma matter, Plateau?
