My fellow Nigerians,
Out of necessity we have to come together to save our already troubled nation Nigeria, against further calamity. We have to stand up in one voice to save what's left of our past, our present and to secure the future for yet unborn generations. This call to action is brought about by the lack of foresight, and insensitivity of The National Assembly, which is seeking to pitch one ethnic group in the country against many others through the bill titled :An Act to establish the National Grazing Route and Reserve Commission of Nigeria; and other matters related.
After successfully passing both the first and second hearing, it needs to pass a third hearing in both the Red and Green Chambers, before it can become a law. It is at this point we have to rise up, to ensure that the Bill doesn't see the light of day.
The question arises of what really is The National Grazing Reserves Bill, and what does it seek to achieve?
The Bill seeks to establish a national Institution - "The Commission", that will be responsible for the acquisition of lands across Nigeria, that it deems good enough for grazing, and then reassign such portions of lands to herdsmen for grazing. The Bill describes the herdsman as any Nigerian, but we all know fully well that not just any Nigerian engages in cattle rearing, not to talk of nomadic pastoralism other than the nomadic Fulani herdsmen.
The Commission when established shall be headed by a Chairman, to be appointed by the President. It shall have the legal right to take any piece of land it wants, in any part of the country, with only a notice to be given to the Governor of the State, notifying the State Government of the Commission's intent to acquire and gazette any piece of land after paying an amount as compensation (to be determined by the Commission) to the owner.
Out of necessity we have to come together to save our already troubled nation Nigeria, against further calamity. We have to stand up in one voice to save what's left of our past, our present and to secure the future for yet unborn generations. This call to action is brought about by the lack of foresight, and insensitivity of The National Assembly, which is seeking to pitch one ethnic group in the country against many others through the bill titled :An Act to establish the National Grazing Route and Reserve Commission of Nigeria; and other matters related.
After successfully passing both the first and second hearing, it needs to pass a third hearing in both the Red and Green Chambers, before it can become a law. It is at this point we have to rise up, to ensure that the Bill doesn't see the light of day.
The question arises of what really is The National Grazing Reserves Bill, and what does it seek to achieve?
The Bill seeks to establish a national Institution - "The Commission", that will be responsible for the acquisition of lands across Nigeria, that it deems good enough for grazing, and then reassign such portions of lands to herdsmen for grazing. The Bill describes the herdsman as any Nigerian, but we all know fully well that not just any Nigerian engages in cattle rearing, not to talk of nomadic pastoralism other than the nomadic Fulani herdsmen.
The Commission when established shall be headed by a Chairman, to be appointed by the President. It shall have the legal right to take any piece of land it wants, in any part of the country, with only a notice to be given to the Governor of the State, notifying the State Government of the Commission's intent to acquire and gazette any piece of land after paying an amount as compensation (to be determined by the Commission) to the owner.
The Bill mirrors the myopic thinking of its sponsors. If
passed into law, we would be deceiving ourselves thinking that a problem
has been solved, but rather in about ten years time from now we will
have a fully blown crisis across the nation, which might be worst than
the menace caused by Boko Haram terrorists. I say this because by
nature the Fulani herdsmen have an expansionist character and you can be
rest assured that they will graze their cattle even beyond where they
have been allocated. If anyone tries to stop them, they shall repel such
resistance with violence.
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This Bill if passed will lead to civil unrest, quite simply
no one will want to lose his land to anyone, not to mention a Fulani
herdsman. Land in Nigerian traditional setting is a sacred item, seen as
the owners heritage, with so many history surrounding it, which is
passed down from generation to generation. There is a connection between
the Nigerian man and his land, thus making him unwilling to release his
land for the benefit of another's private project. Which Nigerian will
want his land to be seized and assigned to someone else?
My recommendation to the Federal Government, is that
the government should note that cattle rearing is not a national project
and should not be institutionalized. The government should note that
the modalities of modern day agriculture has moved far beyond
pastoralism. In fact it is not even befitting for an economy seeking to
become one of the top 20 economies in the world, to be having such
obsolete considerations. The government should focus on solving the
myriads of problems facing the Nation, rather than considering
establishing a National Grazing Reserve. Anyone who wants to go into
cattle rearing should look to acquire his own private ranch, as it is
the norm around the world and not look for government assistance.
The Government should focus on its Change policy, tackle
corruption, address infrastructural deficit, reduce the over bloated
cost of running the government. It is imperative to note at this point,
that establishing the Commission will require funding. Funds will be
required to achieve the following set objectives of the Commission :
1) Designating, acquiring, controlling, managing and maintaining of the Grazing Reserve and livestock route, established under the act.
2) Constructing dams, roads, bridges fences and other infrastructure the Commission may consider necessary for the purpose of the National Grazing Reserve and Stock Route within the reserve.
3) Conserving and preserving in its natural form the National Grazing Reserve and Stock Route.
1) Designating, acquiring, controlling, managing and maintaining of the Grazing Reserve and livestock route, established under the act.
2) Constructing dams, roads, bridges fences and other infrastructure the Commission may consider necessary for the purpose of the National Grazing Reserve and Stock Route within the reserve.
3) Conserving and preserving in its natural form the National Grazing Reserve and Stock Route.
The Federal Government and The National Assembly should
note that history is not just a mere passage of events, but history is
meant to be looked into, analysed and lessons are to be drawn out from
it. If the Bill is passed into law, history will repeat itself and we
will have a crisis similar to that which happened in Rhodesia right here
in Nigeria . Frankly speaking passing this Bill would be setting FIRE
ONTO THE KEG OF GUNPOWDER WE HAVE BE SITTING ON FOR A WHILE.
THE Federal Government should note that this is not the Change we voted for , nor the Change we are expecting, neither is it the Change we deserve, therefore the bill should be scrapped.
THE Federal Government should note that this is not the Change we voted for , nor the Change we are expecting, neither is it the Change we deserve, therefore the bill should be scrapped.
By Femi "Phelps" Dawodu
