The Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore has faulted South-West governors for imposing a ban on open grazing, describing it as illegal because it amounted to an eviction notice.
Secretary-General of the factional herders’ group, Saleh Alhassan stated this on Friday.
However, his comment negated the stance of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), which backed the South-West governors’ decision to ban open-grazing in a meeting held on January 25.
“They can’t put an end to open grazing by fiat because grazing is not motorcycle business; there must be an alternative. Secondly, if they say they are going to end open grazing, what is the timeline for it?
“They want to displace herders from where they earn their livelihood. It is not different from an eviction notice – it is just putting the eviction notice into effect. This is very unfortunate because they cannot come out to say they are embracing peaceful herders and then say they are ending open grazing. What do they mean by that? Is there closed grazing?
“From history, right from the time of Moses, grazing is open. By now, they should realise that they will not get the result they are looking for. We are in total support of the National Livestock Transformation Plan. I was part of the committee that reviewed the final document. The programme has a lot of components, and if implemented, it will address a lot of challenges.
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“Look at Benue State and how the approach (banning open grazing) has created a militia. You can’t end open grazing by fiat as if someone is looking for a crisis, and these crises have a way of reverberating,” Alhassan told The Punch.
He said it was disingenuous to ask herdsmen to stop open grazing and start ranching without given them a ranch.
“If they say herders must begin ranching today, where is the ranch? For someone to develop a ranch, they need at least three to five years for it to mature. The facts are there. Ranches cannot be created overnight but they are just playing politics,” the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore scribe stated.