Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, on Wednesday, appealed to state Governors to “settle pastoralists” with the return of grazing reserves designated for herders in the 1960s.
MACBAN President, Baba Othman-Ngelzarma, made this appeal while speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily live programme.
Othman-Ngelzamar noted that the “preservation” and the “protection” of grazing reserves, especially those in the 19 northern states, would address the intractable and internecine challenge of the farmer-herder crisis.
MACBAN made this demand following President Bola Tinubu’s announcemeny on the creation of a new Ministry for Livestock Development.
He assured that the livestock sector could turn around Nigeria’s economy if well-tapped.
The MACBAN President stressed that herders were not interested in land grabbing but settlements.
“Talking about land grabbing, even in the northern part of the country where the pastoralists belong, they don’t have lands. They don’t care about land; they stay in the forests (and) when development reaches them, they move further into the forests,” he said.
When asked further whether state governors would have to give the herders land for settlement or ranching, the MACBAN boss said, “Do they need the state governments to give them (herders) lands? We have areas that are dedicated as grazing reserves.
“We have about 415 of them all located in the northern part of the country covering about six million hectares of land. There are some encroachments on them but if you minus the encroachments, you will still have about five million hectares of land that are dedicated for grazing, have laws for them for grazing, the lands are there.”
