National Grazing Reserves Bill : Robbing Peter to pay Paul

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.

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.

National Assembly :www.nigeriannewspaper.com.ng

Recently we have been inundated by the socio-economic damages caused by the Fulani herdsmen, who have resorted to picking up arms and taking the law into their hands all in the name of grazing. The damages they have caused in the  community of Benue State is a notable example. The question on everyone's lips, is how did these men get their hands on such sophisticated weapons such as AK 47s and Mortar guns? The Federal Government and members of The National Assembly should focus their attention at checking the influx of arms and ammunitions into the hands of ordinary Fulani herdsmen, rather than seeking to establish a commission that will institutionalize cattle rearing. The incessant violent actions being carried out by the Fulani herdsmen across the country, should be treated as a threat to National Security, and as such should be dealt with swiftly and decisively, even if it means treating them like terrorists, as the Federal Government as vowed to treat pipeline vandals in the Niger Delta.

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.

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.

By Femi "Phelps" Dawodu