The Nation Newspaper

Tag: cattle ranches

  • Sokoto Basin best for cattle ranches

    SIR: Whenever a straight path to the solution of a problem can be taken and someone chooses a complicated route to this solution, then this is called the “Rube Goldberg approach.” The recommendation by a federal government think-tank that cattle ranches be established in frontline states that have borne the brunt of killing by Fulani cattlemen is thoroughly misplaced. The straightforward solution to the Fulani menace is to corral their millions of herd of cattle onto ranches at the most appropriate location, viz: the geological province known as the Sokoto Basin. The “basin” designator here, from a geological perspective, is a wide swath of similar-feature area that was a depression millions of years ago and presently has been filled up with loose earth materials that ensure that groundwater is available in large quantities for a long period of time for use by inhabitants of this area.

    The strong argument that still can be made for the Sokoto Basin is that, because this area is generally shorned of overgrowth thickets and suchlike harsh vegetation and still because of its flat terrain coupled with not so heavy year-round precipitation, connecting road links to these ranches could be built and maintained for a long time plus the fact that the corralled cows herein would be less exposed to constant billowing elements of annoying precipitation and its attendant cold spells. The states of Benue, Taraba, Nasarawa, Plateau, and Kogi would now be centres for the cultivation of fodder for hay-making and a market in transportation and distribution would then ensued between the farmers of these states and the Fulani cattlemen who would be settled in the states of  Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, etc.

    Until this approach is adopted, every thinking person would continue to doubt the federal government’s pledge to ensure that lasting peace is restored in the Benue Valley and the states ringing this valley. This is the plain truth, believe it or not.

     

    • Sunday Adole Jonah, Federal University of Technology, Minna.

  • PDP cautions Fed Govt over cattle ranches

    THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged the Federal Government to exercise caution in its plan to establish cattle ranches in some parts of the country.

    Declaring that the country is presently in perilous times, the opposition party urged the government to hold enough consultations on the issue to avoid escalation of the same problems it claims to be addressing.

    The PDP observed that the situation has already generated discordant tunes and acrimony among major stakeholders, groups and states across the country, particularly on issues of funding and land ownership.

    Addressing a news conference in Abuja yesterday, PDP spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan said the party was worried by the lack of adequate consultations by the Federal Government, resulting in the disagreements that have trailed the plan, especially along ethnic divides.

    It called on the Federal Government to get its acts together and follow all due processes, as stipulated by the laws and the 1999 Constitution (as amended), to eliminate the disagreements generated by the policy.

    The party said the nation has witnessed enough disagreements, violence and bloodletting, adding that measures must be put in place to avert fresh crisis.

    The PDP restated its accusation of clampdown on opposition leaders and perceived opponents of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

    It alerted Nigerians and the international community to what it described as the antics of those it described as “enemies of our democratic process and adversaries of our unity and harmonious living as a nation”.

     

  • PDP cautions Fed Govt over cattle ranches

    THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged the Federal Government to exercise caution in its plan to establish cattle ranches in some parts of the country.

    Declaring that the country is presently in perilous times, the opposition party urged the government to hold enough consultations on the issue to avoid escalation of the same problems it claims to be addressing.

    The PDP observed that the situation has already generated discordant tunes and acrimony among major stakeholders, groups and states across the country, particularly on issues of funding and land ownership.

    Addressing a news conference in Abuja yesterday, PDP spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan said the party was worried by the lack of adequate consultations by the Federal Government, resulting in the disagreements that have trailed the plan, especially along ethnic divides.

    It called on the Federal Government to get its acts together and follow all due processes, as stipulated by the laws and the 1999 Constitution (as amended), to eliminate the disagreements generated by the policy.

    The party said the nation has witnessed enough disagreements, violence and bloodletting, adding that measures must be put in place to avert fresh crisis.

    The PDP restated its accusation of clampdown on opposition leaders and perceived opponents of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

    It alerted Nigerians and the international community to what it described as the antics of those it described as “enemies of our democratic process and adversaries of our unity and harmonious living as a nation”.

     

  • PDP cautions FG on cattle ranches

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has charged the Federal Government to exercise caution in its plan to establish cattle ranches in some parts of the country.

    Declaring that the country is presently in perilous times, the party urged the government to hold enough consultations on the issue, to avoid escalation of the same problems it claims to be addressing.

    The PDP observed that the situation has already generated discordant tunes and acrimony among major stakeholders, groups and states across the country, particularly on issues of funding and land ownership.

    Addressing a news conference in Abuja on Thursday, spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the party was particularly worried by the lack of adequate consultations by the federal government resulting in the disagreements that have trailed the plan, especially along ethnic divides.

    It urged the government to get its acts together and follow all due processes, as stipulated by the laws and the 1999 Constitution (as amended), in order to eliminate the disagreements generated by the policy.

    The party said the nation has witnessed enough disagreements, violence and bloodletting, as such all measures must be put in place to avert fresh crisis.

    The PDP restated its accusation of clampdown on opposition leaders and perceived opponents of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

    It alerted Nigerians and the international community to what it described as the antics of those it described as “enemies of our democratic process and adversaries of our unity and harmonious living as a nation.”

    Ologbondiyan said: “Today, our dear nation, Nigeria, has finally fallen into a perilous time! There are fears and trepidation everywhere. The safety, personal freedom and wellbeing of Nigerians, particularly, opposition members are no longer guaranteed.

    “The All Progressives Congress (APC), having realized that they stand no chance in the 2019 general elections, are now deploying all wicked machinations to cause confusion, heighten political tension, hounding and arresting opposition leaders, making spurious allegations and attacking influential Nigerians, including former heads of state, all to instill fear in the polity.

    “Having failed in their corruption smear campaign against the PDP and many notable Nigerians, the APC and the Presidency cabal have now devised a devious machination to rope in, frame up, implicate and ultimately incarcerate marked opposition leaders and other dissenting voices over fabricated security charges.

    “Part of this design, as already exposed by the Special Adviser to President Buhari, Mr. Femi Adesina, on Arise TV, is to link such opposition leaders and dissenting voices with the widespread killings in various parts of the country, while forgetting that President Buhari had earlier blamed the attacks on invaders from Late Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya, while his Director General of State Security Services (DG.SSS) blamed it on herdsmen from neighbouring countries.”

     

     

  • Fed Govt to build cattle ranches

    The Federal Government is to build ranches for herdsmen as part of measures to address perennial herdsmen/farmers’ clashes, it was learnt.

    It said park rangers, men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and other security agencies, would be trained to protect the ranches from being looted by hoodlums.

    The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, spoke in Abuja yesterday at the inauguration of an inter-ministerial committee on Security.

    He said because of the  challenging times, the government would protect investments.

    Ogbeh said the government would curb herdsmen/farmers’ clashes to assure indigenous and foreign investors of the safety of their investments.

    His words: “The problem we are facing is the security of investment. We are inviting Nigerians and foreigners to invest, especially in the agriculture industry. The crime rate is soaring and sometimes, criminality is carried out because there is no credible intelligence.

    “We are planning to build ranches and bring our cattle rearers in manageable conditions, where herdsmen and farmers would no longer have clashes. We will encourage agro-investment and we assure investors; indigenous and foreign, that Nigeria is serious about investment and about protecting investors.”

    The minister said the committee would work out modalities for training and deployment of security personnel for the project.

    He cautioned the security operatives against abandoning their duties.

    “You should not become private bodyguards or errand boys,” Ogbeh warned.

    Minister of Interior Lt. Gen Abdulrahman Dambazzau (rtd) said investment protection was important ito increase investors’ confidence in the country.