A Fulani socio-cultural association, Miyetti Allah, has urged the federal government to create a Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries “as obtainable in many African countries.”
The association said on Monday that this was in line with the recommendation of the Inter-ministerial Committee on Livestock Development in Nigeria 2015, the Report of the President Committee on Pastoralists and Insecurity 2014 and the National Livestock Transformation Programme.
The association’s National President, Abdullahi Bello Bodejo, and the National Secretary, Saleh Alhassan, disclosed this at a national peace summit and investiture of Queen Mother Amina Temitope Ajayi as the Miyetti Allah Brand Ambassador, held at the Maliya market headquarters of the association in Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.
The association also urged the National Assembly to intervene and stop state governors from enacting the anti-open grazing law.
It said the anti-open grazing law would undermine the relative peace and stability currently enjoyed in local communities, threaten social order and worsen cattle rustling in the country.
Alhassan said, “The National Assembly must come to the rescue of the pastoralists by resuscitating and passing the Grazing Reserves Commission Bill and other livestock management bills that were initiated by the previous assembly. The anti-open grazing laws would destroy livestock production and send into poverty millions of people that depend on the livestock value chain.”
“The review of the Land Use Act was long overdue to accommodate the interest of all land users, including pastoralists. Ranching as envisaged by many required capital-investment and was difficult to sustain, not economical and it is not small livestock holder-centered.”
He commended President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for listening to the association’s consistent calls to restore the existing grazing reserves, routes and create new ones.
“Because it is the only sustainable solution to the farmers and herders’ conflicts in the country,” he said.