The Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore Fulani Socio-Cultural Group has said that the species of cows they have as subsistence livestock farmers were not suitable for ranching in the country,
They argued that they can only be confined to ranching if their livestock were replaced with breeds suitable for ranching.
This is as the association resolved its differences with the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) over the Benue and Taraba states anti-open grazing laws.
The President of the association Alhaji Abdullahi Bello Bodejo, National Secretary Engr. Alhassan Saleh and the National Coordinator of the MACBAN Alhaji Garus Gololo at a joint news conference Sunday in Abuja call for the establishment of Livestock and Fisheries Ministry and insisted that the anti-open grazing law is unconstitutional.
“The anti-open grazing laws being established by state governments would die a natural death the laws were being used as campaigns by some people to win votes in the 2019 elections. The species of cows we have as subsistence livestock farmers were not suitable for ranching in the country. We can only be confined to ranching if the livestock were replaced with breeds suitable for ranching,” Saleh said.
He argued that the establishment of the new ministry would curb the problem associated with emphasis on crop productions to the detriment of livestock and fisheries production despite their importance in the Agriculture value chain.
He stated that the call was borne out of the realization that the national nomadic commission has failed to live up to its mandate of catering for the needs of pastoralists in the country.
He urged the government to learn from Ethiopia, Kenya, Niger and Benin where such practice were instituted, and insisted that the Benue State anti-open grazing law which became effective on 1st of November this year contradicts the provisions of the Constitution which guarantee the rights of every Nigerians to live in any place or states of their choice.
On his part Gololo who was a Special Adviser on Fulani Matters to Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State said that till now the state government is yet to provide land to herdsmen.
“It (law) violates our freedom of movement which is provided for in the 1999 constitution as amended. Restricting us is against our fundamental rights of freedom of movement and freedom to acquire property anywhere in this country as enshrined in the Constitution.
“Stopping us through the use of State law is akin to stopping an interstate commerce which is an exclusive preserve of the exclusive legislative list under item 62. So it is the prerogative of the National Assembly to legislate on inter-state commerce not the state Assembly.
“So when you create a law that are reminiscent South African Apartheid regime targeting the economic growth of a people without providing any alternative for them and then the context of that law is trying to instigating the people that you are trying to solve conflict and then you told the same people to go and meet the people that you told are your killers, you know it is not possible,” he said.
Bodejo on his part while saying that the whole experiment of ranching in Nigeria is total failure, added that right from the 70s, the old Gongola State experimented ranching, same with Kaduna and the old Plateau state.
He said, “All the ranches collapsed because the geographical location of this country is not suitable for ranching. In places where there are successful ranching in the world, the volume of rain per annum in those areas is at least up to seven months, that is why you have grasses that can naturally be sustained. And then at the same time, you must have the necessary cattle breeds that will support ranching. The current breeds we have in this country cannot support ranching. Anyway you keep these volumes of cows as we have now, for two weeks, they will eat out everything and you will have ecological disaster.