L awmakers in the upper chamber of the National Assembly are divided along ethnic lines on the propriety of a bill seeking to create grazing reserves and routes for Fulani nomads throughout the country.

South-West, South-South, South-East and Middle Belt senators are opposed to their colleagues from the far North on the issue.

While socio-political groups in the South-West, South-South, South-East and Middle Belt oppose the bill, the far North support it, saying it will reduce constant clashes between nomadic Fulani and host farmers.

The Senate, during its July 3, 2012 sitting, was sharply divided when the bill was discussed.

Among other provisions, the bill seeks to establish a National Grazing Reserves Commission, which will have the power to acquire land that will serve as grazing reserves and routes for herdsmen in any part of the country.

Senators who opposed the bill, said it negated the Land Use Act and the principle of federalism. They argued that the matter should be left to state assemblies to decide.

One of the supporters of the bill, Deputy Leader of the Senate, Abdul Ningi, argued that the bill had no conflict with the constitution and the Land Use Act.

He said that the Federal Government had the power to acquire land for the grazing project, just as it could acquire land to build roads across states.

Senate President David Mark referred the bill to the Joint Committee on Judiciary and Legal Matters and Agriculture and Rural Development for advice.

But on Thursday, the Federation of Middle Belt People opposed the bill, saying the grazing reserves and routes would create more problems for the country.

The coordinator of the group, Mr. Manasseh Watyil, in an interview with SATURDAY PUNCH, asked, “Where is the Fulani abode? Creating a grazing reserve for the Fulani is like creating trouble. They cannot be pinned down to one place.”

Also, the Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, faulted the bill.

Afenifere leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, told SATURDAY PUNCH in Akure that the herdsmen erred because they deliberately destroyed farmlands across the country without showing remorse.

He said, “I don’t support the bill seeking the Senate’s approval of grazing reserves for Fulani herdsmen in the country; rather, the government and their (Fulani) leaders need to re-orientate them.

“The most painful aspect is that they would not feel remorse after destroying farmlands. The tendency to destroy other people’s lives and property is in their minds and they seem to be deriving special pleasure in doing so.

“Their leaders should give them a fresh orientation. How many grazing reserves do you want to create for them? They will seek another one whenever they feel there is no enough grass again.”

Reacting to the bill, the Secretary, Ijaw National Congress, Mr. Robinson Esitei, said it was absolutely wrong and it should, therefore, be resisted.

The INC secretary said the bill would cause further divisions and crises in the country, stressing that the INC leadership would oppose it.

He said it would be inconceivable for the FG to acquire land belonging to the people for the purpose of cattle rearing.

He said land did not belong to the government, but to the people and could only be acquired with their consent.

He said, “That is absolutely wrong. Land is aboriginal to the inhabitants and owned by the people.

“If the government acquires any land without the consent and approval of the aborigines, then the government is running an illegal system, contrary to the stipulations of the constitution.

“The people own the land and the aborigines use the land as a means of survival. And if the government wants to use it for developmental purpose, that would be their equity share.

“If you acquire a piece of land from Delta State and you want to use it for cattle rearing, how will it benefit the people? It’s another way of causing division and crisis in Nigeria. The INC vehemently opposes it.”

The President of Izumunna Cultural Association, an Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Prof. Zebulon Okoye, described the grazing reserve bill as unreasonable.

He said the frequent attacks on host communities by Fulani nomads had justified the need for the Senate to reject the bill.

Okoye, in an interview with SATURDAY PUNCH in Jos, said that the constant clashes on the Plateau were only born out of the expansionist tendency of the pastoralists.

He said instead of establishing a grazing reserve for nomads, the FG should settle them in the North, where there are large acres of uninhabited land.

Okoye advised the government to provide amenities such as water and electricity for them.

He said, “From what is happening on the Plateau, it is now clear that a law of that nature is detrimental to other parts of the country, especially the South-East that is land locked.

“If they are doing it in a land that does not belong to them, what happens if such land is legally given to them? They will drive all the people from their homes.

“If they can visit this amount of calamity on Plateau and other places where there had been intermittent clashes between them and the natives, then we wonder what will happen in the South-East.

“This is more so as the majority of the nomads are non-Nigerians, but coming from Mali, Chad, Cameroon and so on.”

He said that the Igbo had experienced the attacks going by the friction between the nomads and the natives in Nsukka area of Anambra State.

Okoye added, “It is a thing of big concern in the South-East and based on the experience we already have in Nsukka area, where they have forcibly taken over land and driven away farmers from the little land they have, we feel strongly that the law will not achieve the purpose for which it is intended.”

But the North’s socio-political group, the Arewa Consultative Forum, said the bill was long overdue.

The group noted that the creation of the grazing reserves would greatly reduce the incessant clashes between farmers and the Fulani.

The National Publicity Secretary of the forum, Mr. Anthony Sani, told SATURDAY PUNCH in Kaduna that the country needed a national policy for the development of livestock, which provides meat for consumption and means of livelihood for Nigerians.

He called for reconciliation between Berom and the Fulani in Plateau State.

Sani advised leaders of the two ethnic nationalities to reconcile and forgive each other.

“After all, the two communities had lived peacefully in the past. How they did it in the past should be repeated for common good,” he added.

A former Kaduna State Governor, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, said the bill was in order.

He, however, said it could only reduce the clashes between the Fulani and farmers.

Musa stated, “I support it, but there are a lot of problems. In the past, there was a provision for that and it was respected.

“There were grazing reserves and the routes that cattle could follow, but all that have now been abandoned. There is no grazing reserve for the nomads. They always keep fighting with farmers. It (grazing) would reduce the clashes in a substantial way.”

Musa added, “The clashes between the Fulani and the people of Plateau State have nothing to do with grazing. In Plateau, Kaduna and some other states, there is always the issue of political power rivalry.”

According to him, the only way to stop the clashes is for the government to muster the political will to confront the problem.

Backing the bill, the Convener/Chairman of the group of Northern Professionals, Politicians and Businessmen, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, said setting up grazing reserves would curb communal clashes between herdsmen and farmers.

Mohammed, in a telephone interview with SATURDAY PUNCH, accused successive governments, especially in the North, of mismanaging the land issue, using the Land Use Decree as cover.

He said, “The entire North was surveyed aerially and otherwise. And in every state and local government, there were areas set aside – we call them burtali in Hausa, where these herdsmen were allowed to go and graze their animals.

“These people were busy giving the land away. If you go through the archives of the former Northern Nigeria, you will find evidence. These things were not done off hand, they were gazetted.

“So, no one can say that this is anything new. If they don’t do it (pass the bill), they will continue to have problems.

“There was land set aside right from Niger Republic down to Northern Nigeria, I don’t know what happened in the South.

“The land had been surveyed and areas where they were to graze their animals were specified. Even the Fulani themselves know these areas.”

Source:http://www.punchng.com/news/senators-fight-over-grazing-land-for-fulani-herdsmen/

[quote author=O.D.B.][b]get them into intensive husbandry for God's Sake this is the 21st century!

Don't mind the hunter gatherers.Primitive senathieves.

They tend to forget that the essences of evolution is settling down,maximizing resourceses and production through dynamic innovations.The days of fulani wanderers is over,and it is high time they reslised that,dic-kheads.

The very notion is a tad offensive and reveals the foundational flaws in the country's structural set up.

Would the northern senators that backed this also be happy to set aside land in different parts of the north specifically for other groups to go and open businesses and earn a living peacefully? In fact that analogy does not do it justice because at least with business comes development so you actually contribute to the development of the local community.

Look at the map of Nigeria. There is meant to be a lot of land in the north. The attention of the federal government is better placed fighting desertification so that nomadic roaming can STAY in the north and nomads can roam in THEIR OWN land. But then, we seem to enjoy taking the long winding road to unecessary chaos.

LOL

O.D.B.:
get them into intensive husbandry for God's Sake this is the 21st century!

hey brother, hope u still get me fo mind sha? I don wait tire!

This proposal or bill is dead on arrival, who in his right senses will give out land to these land grabbers? Good enough, all other regions agreed on it's total rejection except of course the two most backward ones.

Northern politicians will die with their dominance nature,this has been the problem of Nigeria,whenever northern politicians wants to manipulate and others checkmate them the next thing they will come up with is to plan heavy violence using nomads in other to draw attention.Same thing that started Boko Haram.You all should expect another form of boko haram in form of nomads.Bunch of vampires.Born to rule is not your birth right mates

cogitoErgo:
hey brother, hope u still get me fo mind sha? I don wait tire!

Am on it. Just gimme some time.

Those that cannot evolve accprdingly will be extinct.That is the rule of the game.Trying to live like a stone age person in the 21st century world is impossible,it's like swimming against the tides.

how narrow minded the hausa/fulanis are to think that we don't know their hidden agenda? otherwise, what happened to Intensive Animal Farming? bunch of filthy savages!!!

Hahahaha.... Dis hausa/fulanis wont stop amazing me. That bill will neva c d light of d day. They think that d southerners are foolish. Anyway time shall tell.

When dey graze there for 10yrs+ they will start fighting/killing their hosts claiming that the land belongs to their forefathers. Just like they are claiming Jos to be their ancestral land. This effort must be resisted now dat we have the upper hand.

It seem you guys in the senate dont know wat to discuss about, plz you people should let the Fulanis leave the country and discuss about creating jobs for jobless youths..Fulanis my foot....

Sentement apart ,this bill could have prevent future crises between fulanis & farmers,but Nigerians sentlement will not allow it.

Prince saha: Hahahaha.... Dis hausa/fulanis wont stop amazing me. That bill will neva c d light of d day. They think that d southerners are foolish. Anyway time shall tell.

Hehe.. ^^ a bigot

wey pishoor?

O.D.B.:
get them into intensive husbandry for God's Sake this is the 21st century!

D reason i love nairaland. So our northern politicians no fit tink towards dis direction? Tufiakwa! Backward region.

I read this story earlier this morning and was like dumb for 2 minutes! Are you kiddin me? Grazing reserves across the country!!! Honestly, this born to rule folks are spitting on our faces. I beg of you, south east, south south, south west and middlebelt folks, let's stop fighting each other for one minute and face these guys and chase them out! I am crazily serious! Its just enough!

Our continous fight is giving these guys an edge to mess with us. They either let's up have our peace or get the heck off our backs. This is nonsense. And before I forget, where is musiwa2 and those sattelite pictures! Musiwa oh! Where are you?

@topic, will shopping malls also be acquired for our igbo brothers who travel elsewhere for greener pastures?

The Igbos buy land to erect their shops or rent one when they go up North to do business. If the Fulanis want land for grazing, they should as well be able to purchase one or at least rent afterall it's their private business they r running. What is good for the goose is also good for the gander.

do these northern people know anything called rangeland? Don't they know that grass & legumes can be established on a land? Do they know there are people in the universities studying rangeland establishment & management?

Saudi Arabians are turning sea water to drinkable water, isrealease are turning desert to arable land & Nigerians are are here still running away from problem in the name of trying to solve it.

GINI? Create which grazing lands in the south east? so that we will become another plateau state?..... This fulani idiots in the senates are crazy. Let them try it and see

Its a good bill as far as the Grazing Land will be up North.....where they belong....

Dead on arrival!

Here is the solution. Since the fulani people needs grazing lands, migrate one of the state in the north and convert the whole state into a grazing field and leave the south east alone unless you guys want to see more bloodshed cause igbos wont take any nonsense in their land.

Billyonaire: Its a good bill as far as the Grazing Land will be up North.....where they belong....

Na so you think am?

nwabobo: @topic, will shopping malls also be acquired for our igbo brothers who travel elsewhere for greener pastures?

The Igbos buy land to erect their shops or rent one when they go up North to do business. If the Fulanis want land for grazing, they should as well be able to purchase one or at least rent afterall it's their private business they r running. What is good for the goose is also good for the gander.

Even for rent make them no rent.

...

Ahmedie25: Sentement apart ,this bill could have prevent future crises between fulanis & farmers,but Nigerians sentlement will not allow it.

Prevent or cause future crisis?

There is nothing good about the Bill. Fulani's will now settle all over the country and carry out the killing of inhabitants of host villages. Why? Because they must certainly go beyond the allotted lands. Animal husbandry is the best way to rear cattles and not parading them like primitive pastoral men.