Farmer/herder crisis: Tinubu asks Buhari to convene stakeholders’ meeting

A former governor of Lagos state and national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to convene an emergency meeting of stakeholders to discuss and nip in the bud the herder/farmer crisis in the country.

The crisis between farmers and herders has claimed many innocent lives, destroyed property and livelihoods of many Nigerians and aggravated ethnic sentiment and political tension in the country.

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Tinubu in a statement on Saturday suggested that state governors, senior security officials, religious and traditional rulers, as well as representatives of herders and farmers should be invited to the meeting.

He explained that because of the violence that has ensued and the fretful consequences of such violence if left unabated, stakeholders must move in unison but decisively to end the spiral of death and destruction.

The APC chieftain said economic hardship and its resultant dislocation, proliferation of weapons, generalised increase in criminality, and weakening of social institutions all play a role in what is currently happening in the country.

“The situation of the herder is becoming untenable. Their nomadic ways fall increasingly in conflict with the dictates of modern society.

“The purpose of this meeting would be to hammer out a set of working principles to resolve the crisis. After this meeting, governors of each state should convene follow-up meetings in their states to refine and add flesh to the universal principles by adjusting them to the particular circumstances of their states.

“To accomplish this goal, wise policy must include the following elements: Maintain reasonable and effective law enforcement presence in affected areas.

“Help the herders’ transition to more sedentary but more profitable methods of cattle-rearing. Unoccupied public land can be fenced into grazing areas or ranches and leased to herders on a very low-cost, nominal basis.

“Assist farmers increase productivity by supporting or providing subvention for their acquisition of fertilizer, equipment and machinery and, also, by establishing commodity boards to guarantee minimum prices for important crops,” he said.