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Tag: Ranching

  • Governors: ranching best bet to end herder, farmer clashes

    Governors: ranching best bet to end herder, farmer clashes

    To end nomadic grazing,the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) yesterday  reaffirmed its commitment to establishing ranches for livestock herders.

    Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, expressed the governors’ position  yesterday.

    It was at the Stakeholders Consultative Workshop on Livestock Reforms in Nigeria,  at the State House, Abuja.

     AbdulRazaq emphasised the need for governors to make land available for the Federal Government’s policy to succeed.

    According to him, historically, herdsmen have roamed the countryside for centuries, holding a deep-seated belief that land and water are divine gifts.

    To address this, the NGF aims to educate herders on the importance of obtaining certificates of occupancy.

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    AbdulRazaq said in Kwara State, a sustainable ranching , funded by the French government, will serve as a model. He said  the project revolves around revitalising abandoned ranches from the First Republic and promoting sustainable agriculture practices.

    Key features of the initiative include issuing certificates of occupancy to herders who agree to settle. This approach is expected to reduce conflicts between farmers and herders and promote peaceful co-existence.

    “What we are doing here today is laying the foundation of a better future for us in the state and the local governments, that’s where the land is. We have  to make land available, to make the Federal Government’s policy a success for us in Kwara.

    “What we have done is we’ve seen that over the years, herdsmen roam across our countrysides, they’ve been there for hundreds of years, but never at any moment sought to seek a certificate of occupancy. So they believe, rightfully to their beliefs, that land and water belongs to God.

    “So they’re not interested in your C of O or right of O. But this is where we need to start changing and educating them to say you should have a C of O in pursuing and deepening that effort, we worked with the French treasury, the French government, who funded free of charge, a sustainable ranching project, which will be based on a ranch that predates  the First Republic.

    “In Nigeria today, we still have a lot of ranches dating back to the First Republic, which are moribund and are not being used,  nobody’s using them. Now, this policy also will come up to show how we can develop these ranches, so with the aid from the French government, we’ve developed a policy where we have sustainable agriculture.

    “Herdsmen don’t need to roam about again, and we will be issuing C of O to some of them who agree to settle now”, AbdulRazaq said.

    President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the workshop   pledged to provide all necessary support to develop  livestock sector into a fully commercialised industry.

    He  emphasized the sector’s importance and potential for growth.

    Nigeria’s livestock sector, approximated to worth about ₦33 trillion in value, currently contributes between 7-9% to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    Despite its potential, Nigeria spends between $1.2 and $1.5 billion annually on dairy imports and President Tinubu aims to change this narrative by transforming the sector from subsistence to commercial.

    The transformation objectives include improved food security, economic growth, and investment attraction.

     Tinubu  hailed the Presidential Livestock Reforms Implementation Committee for their dedication and commitment.

    He acknowledged the support of various stakeholders, including Attahiru Jega, who is Co-Chairman of the committee, Umar Ganduje, who birthed the reforms initiative, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) authority.

    “I’m delighted to join you at this consultative workshop, dedicated to one of the most critical aspects of our nation’s development.

    “The livestock sector is a very important sector, we’re going to give it all it needs to bring value to our country. Stakeholders, I stand here assuring you that you will not regret the collaboration and the investment coming into this sector.

    “It’s about time that we did it right. A country of over 200 million people and cannot serve our children one pint of milk in the classroom per day. We didn’t see the investment opportunities,  we didn’t see the economy in the past, now we’ve seen it, we must work together to realise the dream.

    “Let me first of all, again, congratulate the Presidential Livestock Reforms Implementation Committee; co-Chairman, the Secretary, your dedication and commitment is very reassuring.

    “Our shared vision is clear, we aim to transform the livestock … from its current subsistence model into a thriving commercialised industry, like other developing world.

    “Yes we can do it, we can bring prosperity to our people, we can feed our children. From grass, we can achieve grace. We can contribute so much to the Nigerian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provide decent jobs.

    “AbdulRahman thank you, Your Excellency, for the assurance of C-of-O and other needs from other areas and I know, Etsu Nupe, with that size of land in Niger State, you can accommodate many investments.

    “We didn’t see the cold room investment, we didn’t see that opportunity before now, but it’s coming. We are going to give it all it takes, I assure you, we will succeed together.

    “The long neglect has weighed on our country’s import bill; between $1.2 and $1.5 billion is being spent to import dairy food and all of that

    “What are we doing with the size of land, the opportunity there, we didn’t see. When I inaugurated the livestock committee, I didn’t see the path clearly, until they started working. Thank you Attahiru Jega and thank you my friend, Umar Ganduje.

    “We will create this environment where the business will thrive. Thank you (Danfulani) NSA. I equally thank the FCT for their contribution and I hope the office is getting ready. It is our duty to our children and future generations to get this right.

    “Let’s unite in our effort; from reform to realisation of our dream and ambition. I stand before you fully committed to this.

    “Investors, foreign investors, are already asking questions; how will we collaborate? The committee and the ministry and I will do everything possible to attract them.

    “We can create a vivid picture of the future we want to see, the future of our country. The economic opportunity for our children and this we can say God bless Nigeria”, the President said.

    , Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, acknowledged the vital role of transforming livestock industry in food security, nutrition, and the livelihoods of millions of Nigerians.

    The Minister praised the  Committee,  Prof  Jega, for its outstanding work, which includes 120 reform initiatives and over 3,000 key performance indicators.

    The committee’s efforts have been bolstered by the presence of diverse stakeholders from the public sector, private sector, civil society, academia, and traditional institutions.

    He noted that President Tinubu is the first  leader to host a high-level event engaging directly with livestock actors across the value chain at the State House.

    He said the historic move of the President would create a sustainable livestock economy, competitive on a global scale, assuring that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security will collaborate with the new Federal Ministry of Livestock Development to achieve the goal.

    Senator Kyari emphasized the government’s unwavering commitment to unlocking Nigeria’s N33 trillion lifestyle economy, ensuring prosperity for all Nigerians.

    Co-chairman of the Committee, Professor Jega, stressed the reform’ potential to improve food security, while also easing longstanding conflicts between herders and farmers just as the Nigeria’s Governors Forum reiterated support for the initiative, urging the adoption of best global practices to modernize the sector.

    He explained that the workshop aims to gather input from 350 critical stakeholders to enhance the livestock sector, which has been largely neglected.

    According to him, unlocking the potentials in the long-neglected livestock sector across its value-chain, and reforming and improving its entire ecosystem, would be immensely beneficial to virtually everybody, everywhere throughout the country, in terms of, among others, new business opportunities, generation of employment and incomes, especially for our teaming youths, contribution food and nutrition security, and remarkable value addition to our country’s GDP.

    “Significantly, reforming the sector would also help to mitigate the perennial conflicts between farmers and herders, which have bedeviled the sector, with negative consequences of community relations and beneficial productive activities”, he said.

  • Ranching: ‘Oyo govt yet to take stand’

    The Oyo State government yesterday said it has not taken any position on cattle ranching.

    The government said it was awaiting the modalities the Federal Government would adopt to handle the matter.

    The Commissioner for Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development, Mr Oyewole Oyewumi, broke the news yesterday inj Ibadan, the state capital, after a meeting with a team from the World Bank who was seeking collaborations on livestock development.

    Oyo is said to be among the 16 states the Federal Government reportedly designated for the controversial cattle ranching.

    Oyewumi said the existing Land Use Act of 1976 had not been amended to accommodate ranching.

    He said: “We read and heard, just like you heard, that the Federal Government is considering building ranches as a way of solving the perennial crisis between herdsmen and farmers or in order to control the socio-political crisis that it seems to be leading to in the country.

    “And that idea has been proposed on the face of it. It will be the right move for government because we all know that ranching is the modern way of breeding cattle.

    “However, as they always say that the devil is in the details, Oyo State has not taken any position with regard to ranching. We will have to see the modalities and the method by which the Federal Government will go about it. We have heard here and there hints that it will essentially be private sector-led. But we will want to see in clear terms how it will be presented to us.”

     

  • ‘Don’t give Oyo land for ranching without Assembly’s input’

    A former Speaker of Oyo State House of Assembly, Dr. Akin Onigbinde, has advised the state government against reported plans to give land to the Federal Government to establish cattle ranches.

    Onigbinde, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), spoke in Ibadan, the state capital, while featuring on a radio programme.

    The former Speaker said no such decision should be taken without due consultation with the state legislature, which he said should look at the issues holistically and decide on behalf of the people whether it is right or wrong to provide land for cattle ranches for herdsmen in the state.

    According to him, the issue of domesticating ranches across the country is one of the reasons many Nigerians have been calling for the restructuring of the country.

    Onigbinde noted that when the country is restructured, each state will be able to develop at its pace and security, which he said was poorly handled by the Federal Government, would be better handled and amicably resolved.

    He said: “I think it is important to warn the Oyo State government on the report that it plans to allow the Federal Government programme to create ranching in certain parts of the country.

    “This is a decision that is so important that the House of Assembly must be included because it is the people who represent the state and must have a say on whatever becomes of our land in the state.

    “When you have a restructured Nigerian, each of the federating units will take its destiny in its hand. For instance, Oyo State as a federating unit will be able to take its destiny in it hands, especially where the issues of security is concerned.

    “Nobody from Abuja, even the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), can understand this environment like the people living here. That is why a certain area in the state, most especially communities, set up vigilance groups by themselves.”

  • Ranching: Nasarawa offers FG seven grazing reserves

    The Nasarawa State government has offered the seven grazing reserves in the state to the federal government for its proposed ranching programme.

    Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Mohammed Abdullahi, announced this in a statement yesterday in Lafia.

    Abdullahi said the state government has keyed into the federal government’s ranching initiative aimed at finding sustainable solution to the recurrent farmers and herdsmen crises in the country.

    “Governor Umaru Al-Makura has approved the utilisation of all the seven gazetted grazing reserves in the state located at Awe, Keana, Doma, Assakio, Keana, Gitata and Kurudu for the purpose of the ranching programme in Nasarawa State.

    “Consequently, the state Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning, affected Local Government Councils and communities where these grazing reserves are located are not only requested to note this development but also to accord all the necessary support and cooperation for the successful implementation of the programme in the state,” he said.

    He added Nasarawa State completely supported the federal government’s initiative and willing to provide all the necessary support for the success of the ranching programme.

    “We see this initiative as an important proactive step towards assuaging and finding a lasting solution to the age-old challenge of farmer-herder conflict,” Abdullahi added.

  • Ortom: no alternative to ranching

    •Southern Kaduna elders back governor 

    Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has said there is no alternative to the ranching law enacted by the state government to regulate livestock business.

    He addressed reporters at the Benue People’s House in Makurdi after a meeting with the State and Zonal leadership of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN).

    Orotm said the ranching law was the collective decision of the people, stressing that he lacks the powers, even as governor, to reverse or adjust it.

    According to him, MACBAN requested for more time to enable them adjust and conform to the law, but he promised them that the law would be implemented with a human face, which was being done already.

    Ortom added that while the law was being implemented, discussions with MACBAN would continue with a view to finding ways of ensuring peace between farmers and herdsmen.

    He said the main objective of the meeting was the arrest and confiscation of some cattle for breaching the law. The government had agreed to release the cattle to their owners after they pay the stipulated fines.

    Chairman of MACBAN in the North Central Alhaji Danladi Chiroma said they are ready to obey the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law, and to cooperate with the state government to expose criminal elements responsible for the current crisis.

    The Southern Kaduna Elders’ Forum has supported the government and people of Benue State on implementation of the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law, saying it’s the best solution to the herdsmen crisis.

    The Chairman, Gen. Zamani Lekwot (rtd) and President, Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, Solomon Musa, spoke when they visited Ortom at the Benue People’s House.

    Gen. Lekwot described ranching as the only tool for peace between farmers and herdsmen, and for stability in the society.

    He said the population of Nigeria had increased without an increase in land, and the need to adopt new trends in animal husbandry was imperative.

    Musa said they shared in the grief and pains of Ortom and the people, saying they were praying that God would expose the evil agenda and disgrace perpetrators of the attacks.

    Ortom said the crisis in Benue, caused by Fulani herdsmen, was about occupation of the land and not grazing.

    The governor said attackers had admitted responsibility of their actions through various published statements and had not hidden their agenda.

     

  • US envoy backs Ortom on ranching

    •’Declare herdsmen’s attacks as terrorists’ acts’

    Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom’s advocacy for the establishment of ranches for cattle rearing, yesterday received the support of the United States of America Ambassador to Nigeria, Stuart Symington.

    The envoy, who visited Governor Ortom at the Benue Peoples House, Makurdi, said if cattle were properly reared in ranches, instead of open grazing, Nigeria could be one of the highest income earners from milk production.

    He said: “I come from a family of farmers and part of my family used to move cattle from one state called Colorado to another state called Texas every year and over time they changed until now the cow business that they do is very much one that takes advantage of the land and we have to move them on trucks.

    “I had a great conversation the other day just outside the city of Jos with one of the great milk producers of the world, a company that produces milk. And I talked to the guy and he was mentioning to me that the milk that comes from the Fulani cattle can be incorporated into the great milk produced here. Literally the future of the nation could be rich when the milk of those herders get fed to the sons and daughters of families and their vegetables get fed to the sons and daughters of the herders. I am happy that you are thinking in this direction Mr. Governor.”

    Ortom thanked the ambassador for the visit and solicited the assistance of the United States in the realisation of the move for ranches across the country, saying it was one reliable way of guaranteeing peace.

    He said: “Let me on behalf of the government and people of Benue State welcome you to the presidential wing of the Benue Peoples House. I appreciate your visit. We were glad when we learnt you are coming to visit us because we look up to America for a lot of things. Today the presidential system of government we practise, we borrowed it from America.

    “I have been advocating ranching, I know America for the rearing of cattle instead of the grazing we have in Nigeria today. Because of the shortage of land, the issue of grazing has become a major security challenge, especially in my state. Frequently, there are clashes between farmers and herdsmen because the land is not there and my people are mostly farmers, so they find herdsmen encroaching and trespassing on farmlands, thus destroying their crops and when they are confronted, it will become a fight and we have lost so much.

    “I have been calling for the establishment of ranches just like it is done in America. Most of us hope that our government at the federal and state levels will come together and find a solution because this crisis is not only peculiar to Benue State. There are other states too that are affected. But to me, I see that ranching as it is done in America, can solve the problem permanently because the land is not increasing, but the population is increasing.

    “When there were grazing routes in the 50s, the total population of Nigeria was less than 40 million. Today, by the 2012 projection, we are over a 170 million and by 2019, I am sure we will be hitting 200 million. So it is a big challenge. While we want to support the herdsmen to graze and rear cattle, it should not be at the detriment of lives and property of our people. So you are welcome.”

    Ortom highlighted other areas of collaboration between Benue State government and the United States.

    He said: “America has been supporting us in several ways. USAID has been of great assistance to my government. Before I assumed office, they were about leaving the state, but I invited them to return for a dialogue and since then, they have been of tremendous help to us.”

    Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has asked the United Nations (UN) Security Council and its members to declare the continued killings of the people and destruction of property by herdsmen as a terrorists’ act.

    SERAP in a letter, urged the UN to hold a special session on Nigeria and visit the country to press the authorities to end killings and destruction of property by suspected herdsmen, particularly in Northcentral.

    It asked the UN to “treat the atrocities by herdsmen as terrorists’ acts, in line with the UN Security Council resolution 2349 (2017), which addresses Boko Haram’s presence in the Lake Chad Basin and calls on states to combat all forms and manifestations of terrorism.

    The group said declaring attacks by herdsmen as terrorists’ acts would help make the authorities to address the threats posed by herdsmen and combat crimes against humanity being committed against Nigerians.

    In the letter dated March 16, 2018 and signed by SERAP’s Deputy Director Timothy Adewale, the organisation expressed concern that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration failed to uphold its responsibility to protect the citizens from atrocities by the herdsmen, which if not urgently addressed, would pose threats to regional peace and security, and by extension, international peace and security.

     

     

  • North’s governors okay ranching as solution to farmers/herdsmen crises

    North’s governors okay ranching as solution to farmers/herdsmen crises

    Governors in the north have given their support to ranching being planned by the federal government as solution to the farmers/herdsmen crises in the country.

    However, they are open to other suggestions that can end the incessant killings associated with the conflicts.

    They spoke after a meeting of the Northern States Governors Forum in Kaduna yesterday.

    Its Chairman Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima said after the meeting that cattle ranching will aside solving the security challenges, increase the productivity of the cattle and enable the herders have uninterrupted access to education and healthcare.

    The forum said: “We are not opposed to cattle ranching; we are not opposed to adopting solutions to our problems. We are willing to embrace new modalities,” he said.

    The governors also urged the Federal Government to declare state of emergency on drug abuse across the country.

    Reading the communique, he said: “The Forum particularly discussed the lethality and widespread nature of the spate of communal clashes and emergent criminal activities like kidnapping and armed banditry in various parts of the Northern states.

    “The Forum, after a thorough and meticulous analysis of the incessant crisis between farmers and herdsmen especially in Benue and Nasarawa states, as well as other associated security challenges and the various factors that directly or indirectly contribute to the worsening situation, resolved to; render full and unequivocal support to the Federal Government in its unwavering commitment and dogged determination to address the multifarious security challenges in all parts of the nation.

    “The Forum extends its support to the Federal Government for the measures put in place to resolve the lingering clashes between farmers and herdsmen. Implementable and viable strategic measures should be initiated by governments at all levels, to forestall future occurrence of any form of communal crisis.”

    The Forum also called for, “articulate and comprehensive plan for intervention to those states affected by the lingering crisis and strongly admonish political, religious and ethnic jingoist to avoid imputing religious, ethnic and political coloration to such conflict.

    “The Forum was disturbed that the phenomenon of drug abuse seems to be escalating with its attendant physical and psychological consequences, notwithstanding the various measures initiated by governments at various levels to stem the tide. The meeting noted with utmost concern the growing and widespread nature of drug abuse, especially among our youths and appealed to all the relevant authorities to step up efforts in combating the menace.

    “The meeting specifically called on the Federal Government to declare state of emergency on drug abuse, in the country as part of renewed efforts to deal with the scourge. It also urged the Federal Government to provide all the necessary funds and equipment to the relevant agencies like NAFDAC and NDLEA in their unrelenting fight against drug abuse.”

  • Pogrom, ranching and colony

    SIR: Sometimes, some experiences come to pass which we lack words to describe but which we love to give a name in order to record for posterity.  The solution to such a problem as suggested by George Orwell in an article on ‘new words’ in his collection of essays – ‘My Country Right or Left’, (Vol. 2, 1940 – 1943) – ‘is to invent new words as deliberately as we would invent new parts for a motor car engine’.

    Imagine this experience: Farmers in the food basket state are under siege.  Not much of farming activities are taking place anymore because of atrocities of herdsmen who supervise the eating up of crops and destruction of farms by their rampaging cattle.  Farmers complained and the herders responded by alleging the killing of their members and of rustling their cows as being the reason for attacking the farmers.  In fact as at the last count over 70 farmers including husbands, wives, pregnant women and children were mercilessly massacred and for which the state government mournfully gave a mass burial.

    Of course that had been preceded by similar incident of gruesome massacres perpetrated in Agatu Local Government Area though the victims never had the opportunity or comfort of state burial – not that they didn’t deserve it but because that was a pre-anti open grazing law incident which, though very painful and unfortunate, did not carry the angst of a direct challenge or affront to the government’s right to enact laws.  So the idea slipped at that moment.  To forestall such ugly development any further, the state government through the Benue State House of Assembly earlier enacted the anti-open grazing law. The herders association known as Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore responded by rejecting the law in toto, insisting that the state either abrogates the law or the herders will continue with their war of genocide.  Then natives began to wonder whether it was the same Fulani herdsmen they had co-habited peacefully with before now or invaders/conquest mongers from other countries.

    In the midst of all these, the federal government contrives a solution which proposes the establishment of cattle colonies in each of the States.  The federal government has a good explanation for what it sees as the panacea for farmers/herdsmen conflicts.  But the food basket state that had already enacted the anti-open grazing law as the best solution feels otherwise and vows to continue with full implementation of the law.  Other states are equally kicking against establishment of cattle colonies which they view as neo-colonialism by the Fulani using herdsmen and cows.  And so the argument rages on while the federal government grapples with the possible solution using the over 16 states which it claims have agreed to go by the ‘colony’ option.

    Even when the Chief of Army Staff went to show to the minister of agriculture the army’s progress in cattle rearing business, it was cattle ‘ranch’ and not ‘colony’ that was beamed to the whole world as the best practice.  In other words it is ‘ranching’ and not ‘colony’ that is in vogue in cattle rearing.  The federal government knows that much but it is harping on ‘colony’ just to be seen to be doing something different – if that is the only area its much mouthed change mantra can reflect.  With all these confusion therefore, the need arises to find appropriate word to describe the experience that has become prevalent in almost all the states of the federation.  It is now a virus which disease has become endemic.  Any state that experiences herdsmen/farmers conflict is suffering from that disease.

    • Professor Jerry Agada,

    Makurdi, Benue State.

  • Ranching as solution

    •Benue seeks a permanent solution to the open-grazing crisis

    The call by Dr. Samuel Ortom, the governor of Benue State, for the nationwide adoption of the ranching of cattle could not have come at a better time.

    The governor was speaking in the wake of the first month of his state’s Open Grazing Prohibition and Establishment of Ranches law, signed into force on November 1. The law restricts the grazing of animals to ranches, limits their movement to rail and truck, and punishes cattle rustling and attacks on farmers, among others. The state’s Livestock Guards has also been inaugurated to help enforce the law.

    With the arguable exception of Ekiti State’s Governor Ayo Fayose, Ortom has been the nation’s most consistent voice on the viable resolution of the deadly confrontations between herdsmen and sedentary communities that have erupted across the country with increasing frequency.

    This is unsurprising, because Benue State has been at the epicentre of these disturbances. Renowned for its agricultural prowess, the state has been a major grazing destination for nomadic herdsmen whose clashes with farmers in host communities have resulted in significant losses of life and destruction of property.

    Between 2013 and 2016, an estimated 1,878 lives were lost in these clashes, with 750 wounded and 200 missing. An estimated N95 billion was lost between 2012 and 2016. Schools, hospitals, bridges and other social infrastructure have been destroyed, and the resultant unrest has negatively impacted commercial and social life throughout the state.

    By making the ranching of cattle and other animals mandatory, the law is simply insisting on the modernisation of an activity which has stagnated in the medieval era for far too long.

    In agricultural superpowers like Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile and the United States, ranching has been standard practice for decades. The practice enables animals to be grazed within the confines of ranches which can be hundreds of thousands of acres in size, thereby facilitating their care and processing for agro-allied industry.

    Instead of being exposed to the elements, vulnerable to cattle rustlers and other hazards, the animals raised on ranches are better protected, are less likely to encroach on farmland, and help put agriculturally unproductive land to better use. Cattle raised on ranches are almost always far more robust and healthier than their open-grazed counterparts.

    Herdsmen are freed from the rigours of nomadic life, as they are no longer forced to wander across the nation in search of pasture and water for their animals. Their families can enjoy healthcare, education and other benefits of sedentary life without sacrificing their attachment to the cattle they value so highly.

    The Benue anti open-grazing law has sought to be scrupulously fair by containing safeguards for all parties. Section 19 protects livestock from theft, while Section 20 protects farmers from attacks.

    Ekiti State was the first to promulgate laws against open-grazing, but Benue State appears to have shown the way forward on the vexed issue of herdsmen-settler clashes. Its combination of consistent advocacy and carefully-worded legislation could succeed where threats and coercion have failed.

    Much remains to be done, however. The practical concerns raised by stakeholders like the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) must be addressed. MACBAN has claimed that the process of acquiring land for ranches is difficult and that no provision has been made for legal cattle markets in the state. If these fears are speedily addressed, they might help to reverse the alleged exodus of herdsmen out of the state since November 1.

    Other states should follow the Benue example. Legislation should not target herdsmen as an ethnic group, nor seek vengeance for the past, but should ensure that cattle-grazing is simultaneously modernised, safe and turned into an economic benefit instead of a security threat.