A call has gone to the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, a Fulani Socio-Cultural Association to desist from opposing the Anti-Open Grazing Bill as the bill will protect herders against intimidation and deprivation.
The member representing Wukari/Ibi federal constituency, Danjuma Usman Shiddi, who made the call yesterday in Taraba state noted that “This particular Bill if passed into Law will boost livestock population, lessen the difficulty.”
More to that, the bill according to him ” will reduce seasonal migration, and it will enhance the interaction among farmers, pastoralists and rural dwellers, thereby reducing the potential for coming into conflict with our Farming Communities.”
Stressing that “It is high time we come together to stop these killing spree which is associated with open grazing” the Bill as envisaged by him will as well “check the activities of some criminals hiding under the guise of grazing to perpetrate all forms of crimes.”
With regards to some assertions that the Anti- Open Grazing Bill offend the constitutional provision on Freedom of Movement, he said “as a Federal Lawmaker I wish to state in an unequivocal terms that the Bill if passed into Law does not restrict free movement, neither does it prohibit grazing of cattle but it only seeks to confine the rearing and grazing of cattles to a confined ranches, which is in line with international best practice for animal husbandry as well as legal provisions prohibiting loitering of animals.”
Rather than kicking against the bill, the Governor’s contribution to the resolution of herdsmen Farmers clash as stated by him “should be appreciated because this crisis remains one of the most protracted problems across the country. ”
Pleading that the bill should be allow to see the light of the day, he expressed dismay over the recent relationship between our Farming communities and Fulani herdsmen which according to him “has taken a deadly dimensions.”
Stressing that “The violent conflicts have claimed more lives than Boko Haram insurgency. The Fulani herdsmen/ Farmers violent conflicts are totaly alien to us , because we have lived in peace together for years immemorial. ”
The member who went ahead to condole with the families of those who have fallen victims of the violent conflicts Between Fulani herdsmen and farming communities of wukari, Takum, Ussa, Lau , Donga, Karim-Lamido, Sardauna Councils ” in my state and other States of the federation observed that “With this Bill in place the Taraba State Government has joined States like Ekiti and Benue state who has since signed the Bill into Law.”
