National grazing routes and reserves

The continuous search by herdsmen for green pastures for their livestock has been the bone of contention in the incessant conflict. In a bid to find a lasting solution to these problems, the Senate and House of Representatives began to work on two separate bills with a common goal of providing grazing routes and reserves […]

The continuous search by herdsmen for green pastures for their livestock has been the bone of contention in the incessant conflict. In a bid to find a lasting solution to these problems, the Senate and House of Representatives began to work on two separate bills with a common goal of providing grazing routes and reserves for the herdsmen. Although the wordings of the bills differ, the two chambers are essentially working for “An Act to Provide for the Establishment, Preservation and Control of National Grazing Reserves and Livestock Routes and Creation of National Grazing Reserves Commission”.
Effects of desertification, unusual weather conditions globally recognized as climate change and over-grazing have been identified as some of the critical factors that compel herdsmen to go beyond their traditional grazing areas. Clashes between farmers and herdsmen occur more often when livestock devour farm crops as a consequence of increased farming activities which over the years took over most portions of the lands that hitherto provided pastures for such animals.
The proposed bill in the Senate has already passed through a second reading. The House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture also held a public hearing on its version of the bill. The National Grazing Routes and Reserves Commission, if established, would acquire and manage parcels of land across all the states of the federation for the purpose of providing pastures for the livestock of nomadic herdsmen.
The bill stipulates that the “Commission shall approach the governments of all the thirty-six (36) states and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and express its desire to establish a grazing route and reserve in accordance with this Act. The Commission shall after undertaking the analysis of the Grazing Reserves and Routes approach each state Governor with the cooperation of the member of the Commission from that state to negotiate with the governor to transfer the land to the Commission for the purpose of Grazing Routes and Reserve”. Although the proponents of the bill including Senator Zainab Kure, the sponsor of the bill in the Senate, and Honourable Karimi Sunday Steve in the House of Representatives, have said the bill, when eventually passed, would end the lingering crisis between farmers and herdsmen, those opposed to it argue that it may create far worse problems than it seeks to resolve. In their view, the establishment of grazing routes and reserves, which borders on land ownership and usage, would not address a conflict that is rooted in indigene/settler question. Others allege that the bill is a plot by Hausa/Fulani political elite to seize lands belonging to other ethnic groups in the country for the use of nomadic Fulani herdsmen.
While these arguments are either baseless or sentimental, the proposed legislation is not without its constitutional challenges. The bill in its draft form would have to struggle to meet the provisions of the Land Use Act, which places land ownership in the hands of state governments and FCT. Although the bill appears to have factored this in, it simply assumes that mere persuasion would make the state governments and FCT to easily transfer land to the proposed commission. The idea of establishing the commission itself runs counter to the prevailing mood of trimming bureaucracy in the country. At a time when Stephen Oronsanya-led Committee Report on Civil Service Reform is stressing on the need for government to cut down the number of its agencies, it may be hard to convince the public to back the creation of additional one. What would be wise is to agree on the provision of the grazing routes and reserves but they should be under the control of existing state ministries of agriculture or livestock departments.
The arguments by Senator Kure that “laws governing grazing reserves in Nigeria had over the years been rendered obsolete and ineffective and that the National Livestock Project Department of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture lacks capacity to function” may be valid. But the problem could be tackled without creating a national commission. Colonial administrations in Nigeria had, for instance, designed a map that marked out cattle routes in the country. All that may be required is to reactivate the grazing routes map and ensure their preservation and protection by relevant government agencies against any form of abuse or encroachment by farmers and estate developers.