Delta State governor, Sen. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa, has berated critics of southern governors on the ban of opening grazing of cattle and the call for national dialogue to restructure Nigeria.
These were part of the decisions taken when he hosted his 16 colleagues on May 11 in Asaba where they also called for state police and devolution of powers from the Federal Government to the States.
His stand came against the backdrop of the criticisms of the Asaba Declaration by Abubakar Malami, Federal Attorney and Minister of Justice and Mallam Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman.
“We owe no apologies, because we spoke the truth and we thought that the truth we spoke was in the best interest of this nation,” he said.
Okowa expressed surprise that some elements in the Presidency are still advocating for the retention of open grazing of cattle.
“Can we truly at this moment be promoting open grazing? Thank God that the President was misrepresented, because I have seen news headlines that the President is not opposed to the ban on open grazing.
“We need to begin to look into what is best for us. Where we were 50 years ago should not be where we should be today and tomorrow,” he added
He acknowledged that it might not be a one-day affair, stressing that the process has to start and there must be a programme that must become evident.
He warned that Nigeria’s growing food insecurity may soon spiral to a tipping point on account of the threat posed by open grazing of cattle.
“Today, a lot of money is being spent by the Central Bank of Nigeria to encourage farmers to ensure that we are food sufficient but a lot of these efforts are lost, because of insecurity. Farmers can’t go to farm, their crops are destroyed, they are maimed and raped and some are even killed. We cannot continue like this, because if you have a programme you are spending billions on, we must secure it and we must ensure the food security of this country,” he said.
Okowa called for wholesale adoption of ranching given that, apart from safety issues, it is more beneficial for both cattle owners and herders.
“Ranching obviously is the only way out as is happening in other climes and it’s not impossible in this place. In some parts of Taraba State, ranching has been on for so many years and we can actually create those ranches where the cattle will have more meat, more milk and then the children can actually afford to go to school
“We may not go into the big ranches but we can start in some form by acquiring some lands for that purpose and it may not be owned by individuals. Government can own the ranches where individuals can come and populate and pay some form of token.
“The voices for restructuring have been very strong out there. Why will somebody even criticise on restructuring? The only thing you need to know is that restructuring is of various facets, you only have to bring forth your arguments,” Okowa said as he spoke with selected journalists in Asaba.
He had earlier called for the writing of a new constitution, not an amendment, to accommodate emerging issues of good governance and greater interest of Nigerians when he received on a courtesy visit, the Senate sub-committee on review of the 1999 Constitution led by Senator James Manager in Asaba.
He told the committee that a new Constitution for the country had become imperative in view of observed inadequacies in the 1999 Constitution and called for the insertion of a clause to allow for the re-writing of the present Constitution while it would continue to be in operation until a new one was ready.
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