On suspending anti-open grazing laws

At a national security council meeting in Abuja recently, Minister of Defence Brig-Gen Mansur Dan-Ali [retd] pushed for the suspension of anti-open grazing laws passed by three state governments.  A statement issued on his behalf by Colonel Tukur Gusau said Dan-Ali stated at the meeting, chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari, that there was a “need […]

At a national security council meeting in Abuja recently, Minister of Defence Brig-Gen Mansur Dan-Ali [retd] pushed for the suspension of anti-open grazing laws passed by three state governments.  A statement issued on his behalf by Colonel Tukur Gusau said Dan-Ali stated at the meeting, chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari, that there was a “need to employ other channels with the affected states to reduce tension by suspending the implementation of the Anti-Open Grazing Law while also negotiating safe routes for the herders.”

Both chambers of the National Assembly immediately kicked against the minister’s suggestion. Ekiti State Government said the Federal Government has no power to suspend laws passed by its State Assembly. This much is true. A law duly passed by a state assembly cannot be suspended by the National Security Council; it can only be quashed by a court if it is in conflict with the Constitution or with a federal law.

It is also doubtful if the Federal Government has the moral right to ask for the suspension of states’ anti-grazing laws. This is because, when farmers-herders crisis reared its ugly head three years ago, the Federal Government told state governors to go and find solutions to the problem.  Three of them, namely Ekiti, Benue and Taraba, enacted anti open grazing laws as local solutions. Benue’s Governor Ortom kicked into effect his anti-grazing law in November last year. The law put an absolute ban on open grazing in the state. The law has since been blamed for the escalating violence in the state. 

Although Taraba’s law came into effect in January 2018, the government said it would be implemented gradually after a comprehensive campaign. Ekiti’s law, which is more moderate, bans open grazing between 6pm and 7am. We editorially criticized these laws and urged the Presidency to consult all stakeholders and seek a national, even international solution to the problem. The Federal Government came up with its own solution to the problem in the name of cattle ranches and cattle colonies proposed by Agriculture Minister Chief Audu Ogbeh. 

As soon as the proposal was unveiled, many state governors especially in the North lined up to provide land for such colonies. In fact, Governor of Plateau State Simon Bako Lalong spent many hours at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in Abuja to learn how the colonies would work while also declaring his support for the scheme. Some states however said they will not provide land for the cattle colonies.

We also wrote an editorial supporting the cattle colonies initiative. We argued that when other states see the commercial benefits of these colonies, they too would beg to be accommodated into the scheme. We are therefore amazed that the Federal Government would seek to stop the state laws without updating Nigerians on its own announced solutions. We reiterate again that farmers/herders clashes is a national problem and a national solution should be fashioned out for it. States shouldn’t be told to solve it on their own because the problem would only move to neighbouring states as happened between Benue and Nasarawa. Or it would be tackled in a short-sighted and selfish way as the law Abia State is trying to enact shows. Abia’s law will require cattle to be conveyed by vehicles only and effectively bans the customary herding. This obviously didn’t take a comprehensive view of the business chain and would satisfy meat consumption needs of the people of Abia while forgetting the supply side. 

The main goal of herders is not to move their animals to the markets; they move as they do in search of pasture and water. We again urge the Federal Government to come forward with its own suggestion of a nation-wide solution to the farmers/herders problem, rather than react in this knee-jerk fashion to “solutions” adopted by state governments, which by the way were all short-sighted.