By Onikepo Braithwaite
Email: onikepo.braithwaite@thisdaylive.com Twitter: @TheAdvocatesTD
I wept as I watched the videoclip of the reunion of the Greenfield University Students and their Parents, over the weekend. They were tears of sadness and joy; sadness because of the five children who were senselessly and needlessly killed by their abductors, and joy because the Parents were able to raise enough money to secure the release of the rest of the children, after about 40 days in captivity. We say Alhamdulillah, Praise the Lord!
As for open grazing, it must not be permitted anymore. Viable alternatives by stakeholders, must be implemented forthwith. It is not only a danger for farmers, but motorists and other road users. I saw a videoclip of a cow that with its horns, it lifted a motorcyclist whose bike stalled, and slammed down with force, both the bike and motorcyclist on the hard surface of the road. I hope the motorcyclist did not die. Coming back from Abeokuta on Saturday, on two different occasions, at high speed, the driver had to slam on the brakes as two different herds of cattle were grazing uncomfortably close to the edge of the highway, and the fear that the cows would stray into the road was real. Should Nigerians now travel at 20km/hour on the highways and risk being dealt with by armed robbers and kidnappers, because Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore and their supporters say that cattle must be allowed to graze anywhere they like, once there’s grass and water? I think not.