The National Chairman of Gan Allah Fulani Development Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Sale Bayari, has kicked against a proposed law to prohibit open grazing in Oyo State.
Bayari in an 18-page position paper he delivered at the public hearing on the bill held at the House of Chiefs, Ibadan, said the bill if passed into law would punish poor herders.
He stated that “it is impossible in our country for any peasant small scale herdsman or rancher to go into ranching.”
He said the sponsors of the bill did not go into detailed history of the Fulani herdsman and his cattle rearing culture, tradition and hereditary attachment to his means of livelihood and not ‘business’ as people were made to understand.
He questioned the failure of the bill to take into consideration the above set of people involved in the cattle business, unlike commercial merchandise livestock farmers like President Muhammadu Buhari; Chief Olusegun Obasanjo; Vice Admiral Murtala Nyako (retd); Senator Abdullahi Adamu; West Africa Milk Company; and Alhaji Tafida Mafindi, among others.
He asked rhetorically how a herdsman that owns 50 cows or less, can afford to lease a plot of ranch to keep and graze, buy feeds for the animals.
He said “the maximum average total value of 50 cows at N150, 000 each is N7.5 million only. From our calculations, one cow will eat grass, drink water, drugs and other maintenance costs to the tune of N1,500 a day.”
He said in the absence of peace, he knew the Fulani people were the number one victim because their entire means of livelihood which is the animals, are perishable.
“Despite Benue State being a northern state, it has been a very bad brother and neighbour of the Fulani herdsmen. Ironically, it is Oyo State among Yoruba states that has been and remained our true home as Nigerians due to the wonderful warm and receptive nature of the great descendants of Oduduwa that the Fulani herdsmen have come to see and accept as their beloved great grandfather too due to accommodating spirit, nature and character of the people of the Southwest.
“We shall continue to be law abiding citizens of this state and here undertake to ensure that we fish out all the bad elements among us that are distorting the peace and tranquility of Oyo State,” he said.
However the Farmers Ambassador in the state, Chief Azeez Maboreje, disagreed with Bayari as he lauded the lawmakers for taking the bull by the horn for considering the bill.
He called on the assembly “to go ahead and prohibit open grazing to safeguard farming practice and investments of the people, in a way that those engaging in open grazing be made to face the wrath of the law.”
He urged the house “to amend a section of the bill to include provision for special courts and mobile courts to try erring herdsmen.”
He also counselled the lawmakers to make provision for the Baale Agbe-In-Council at each local government, for them to contribute meaningfully to the agricultural development, and engage in harmonious relationship with the Fulanis and others herders.
The Chairman, House Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, Peter Ojedokun, in his opening remarks, said the purpose of the public hearing, was to receive input from the stakeholders on a Bill for a Law to Prohibit Open Rearing and Grazing of Livestock and Provide for the Regulation of activities of herdsmen and for connected purpose.”
He said the bill was aimed at addressing the crises between farmers and the herdsmen and other insecurity matters especially in rural areas in providing enabling environment for both the farmers and the herdsmen to carry out their business.
Ojedokun stated that it is undisputable fact that for the state of the nation to be financially buoyant, her production capacity must be strongly in place.
“In our dear state one of the strong sections to be reckoned with when talking of production capacity is agriculture; it is not out of place to call on stakeholders to contribution on ways to sustain agricultural productivity in the state,” he said.
He added: “This bill is a private members bill, sponsored by the Rt Honorable Speaker, the Deputy Speaker, Majority Leader and Minority Leader of the House. The bill was introduced on the floor of the House on Thursday, 25th July, 2019 and passed through the 2nd reading. In view of the Bill, it was unanimously resolved that the House should hold a Public Hearing to receive inputs from the Stakeholders.”
The Speaker of the State House Assembly, Adebo Ogundoyin, in his speech, said there was a need for peaceful coexistence between the farmers and herders, adding that agriculture, crop, and animal husbandry remained major economy in the state.
“There is a need for us to continue to live in peace and harmony, Fulani and the farmers have been living together for long time ago and nobody ousted his/her boundary or herders grazing their cattle in a way that will destroy farm input,” he said.
Ogundoyin stressed that no government would open its eyes and allow its people be killed, noting that the present administration in the state is committed in ensuring security of lives and property of its citizenry.
He said, “Some parts of the state, particularly Oke-Ogun side are the mostly affected; only in an atmosphere of peace that economic development can take place. So, all hands must be on deck to address issue of insecurity in the state.”
