Farmers-Herders Clashes: Nigeria Must Ban Open Grazing, Learn From Kenya, Others ASCAB
Nigerian herders must accept “modern animal husbandry” and learn from Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique, Kenya and Ethiopia that have effectively adopted ranching to end clashes.
by SaharaReporters, New York
May 14, 2021
The Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB) has said that the worsening insecurity in the country due to the fatal clashes between herders and farmers can only be addressed if the country adopts ranching in place of open grazing.
Interim Chairman of the group, human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, on Friday noted that the decision of the Southern governors was in line because there cannot be grazing on farmlands without the authorisation of the owners.
Insecurity: Group backs governors on open grazing ban
Mr Falana advised the governors to legalise the ban. 2 min read
The Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB) has backed the decision of southern governors to ban open grazing in their respective states.
The group, led by human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, in a statement to PREMIUM TIMES on Friday said the only solution to farmers-herders violence is the adoption of ranching against open grazing.
It maintained that some African countries like Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique, Kenya and Ethiopia have adopted ranching to end the crisis.
“As I had repeatedly maintained, the worsening insecurity in the country including the violent clashes between herders and farmers can only be seriously addressed if policy makers are prepared to abandon primitive ideas and embrace scientific solutions.
Our Sheikh Gumi Problem
By
Sun Feb 28 2021
“He comes into this struggle for peace with a clear-eyed perspective and a very strong conviction,” wrote Professor Usman Yusuf about his medical school mate and friend, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, with whom he had been traversing the crevices of bandits to understand their perceived grievances and attempt to secure them amnesty from the government. Professor Yusuf’s Op-Ed, published on various online platforms, was a bid to emphasize that “Sheikh Gumi’s peace initiative is not at the behest of or sponsored by any government or group.”
What, however, began as an admittedly unsponsored intervention has been ruined by the Sheikh’s method. At first, his utterances in the media seem like attempts to appeal to the sentiments of the bandits, and that he merely said what those rural devils wanted to hear just to earn their trust. But his persistence, despite the unpleasant reactions, has confirmed that the Sheikh is much more than what