Nigerian Government to Reactivate ranching Programme as Herdsmen Encroach on Farmlands and attack Farmers
The Nigerian government is considering plans to relaunch the ranching programme to address the recurring clashes between herders and farmers in the country.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, indicated this in a memo to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, NAN reports.
The communication, signed by a Director in the SGF office David Attah, is titled “Heightened misunderstanding between farmers and herders in Abia, Delta and Kwara States”.
The SGF said the recurring invasion of farmlands by migrant herders and hostilities pose a threat to food security.
Mustapha also observed that the conflicts had affected peaceful coexistence in the affected communities.
“The aforementioned development underscores the need to revisit and remodel the ranching programme”, the memo notes.
The SGF urged the relevant ministers to take necessary action on the matter to ensure people in agrarian areas.
Mustapha warned of violence between herders and farmers in Opiene community, Arochukwu LGA of Abia, over alleged invasion by the herders on farmlands in Oblene forest.
More than a dozen nomads were said to have arrived from neighbouring Itu village in Gdukpani LGA of Cross River State.
President-General of the community, Kalu Irem recently raised the alarm, calling for urgent government intervention.
The memo also mentions uneasiness in Ogwashi-Uku and Ubulu-Unor communities in Aniocha LGA of Delta State, due to the increasing presence of strange pastoralists.
The anxiety followed the refusal of residents to serve as guarantors to herders encroaching on some farms at Chibata and Aboh-Ogwashi villages in the same LGA.
Also in Kwara, nomads operating around the Marafa axis of Ilorin-East LGA were reportedly preparing to fight members of their host community.
The memo said the planned confrontation was a result of the recent attack on two of their kinsmen in the area.
The victims, Sadik Isah and Abubakar Bindo, are receiving treatment at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital.
The National Livestock Transformation Programme (NLTP) of the Buhari administration was met with resistance after the initial introduction,
As of October 21,2022, about 22 out of the 36 states had indicated interest to key into the programme.
