ICIR
By Vincent Ufuoma
KADUNA State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has faulted the anti-grazing laws being enacted by state governments, especially those in the southern part of the country.
El-Rufai, who said this to newsmen during a visit to the National Secretariat of the All progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday, stated that banning open grazing was not the solution to perennial clashes between herders and farmers in the country.
“But moving towards ranching cannot be done overnight. We have to have a plan; we have to have resources, and we have to implement it sensibly. It is not a matter of populist legislation or saying tomorrow, this or that. It is not a solution. We have taken a position as northern state governors and we are implementing that,” he said.
“And in my state, for instance, we are developing a huge ranch to centralise the herders. And that is the solution, a long time. But can it be done overnight? No.”
He warned states against politicising the matter, saying they should not make legislation they would not be able to implement.
He stated that although open grazing was outdated, the only solution was ranching which required a huge financial investment.
“This project we are doing will cost us about N10 billion. The CBN is supporting us with about N7.5billion. And it will take about two years to do.
“We will be settling Fulani herd families. And I hope that they will see that there are alternative ways of producing livestock instead of running up and down with cattle going to people’s farms to cause all kinds of problems. We want to solve the problem.
“What is unhelpful…
