₦airaland Forum

THE spate of killings in Ondo, Benue, Edo and Nasarawa States by bandits and Fulani herdsmen last week should nudge the Federal Government to find the courage to ban open grazing urgently and adopt ranching.

Incidentally, Nigeria is searching for peace and food security, yet, it is playing politics with open grazing, the deadly instrument that has been brewing banditry and providing an arsenal for senseless killings country-wide for decades.

Bandits attacked four communities in the dead of the night in the Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State last Monday, killing 20 people. Nine surveyors were also abducted at a building site in the LGA that week.

In Benue, armed herders ambushed and killed three personnel of the state security force, Civil Protection Guards in Naka, the headquarters of Gwer West LGA. This ignited protests that resulted in the burning down of parts of the LG secretariat and the palace of a traditional ruler by angry youths.


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On Sunday, two residents were abducted while four others sustained gun and machete wounds from a herders’ attack at the Dantata Life Camp in Aviele, Etsako West LGA, Edo State.

Fulani herdsmen and bandit attacks festered because of government mismanagement of herders and farmers’ relationships.

In the First Republic, grazing routes were created to ensure a peaceful coexistence between herders and crop farmers. That did not work for long because it was not sustainable herding cattle on others’ farmland.


It amounts to trespassing. Eventually, it degenerated into open conflict between the herders and settled farmers.

The Obafemi Awolowo administration established ranches to stem the conflict and promote modern livestock operations in the Western Region. Therefore, the federal, state, and local governments must return to the ranching regime that birthed mutual coexistence between the herders and the farmers.

The International Crisis Group says, “Rising conflict between herders and farmers in Nigeria is already six times deadlier in 2018 than Boko Haram’s Insurgency” and “has become Nigeria’s gravest security challenge.”

A 2020 report, “Working Document: Fulani Militia’s Terror: Compilation of News (2017-2020), states, “Fulani herdsmen engaged in 654 attacks, killed 2,539 and kidnapped 253 people in Nigeria between 2017 and May 2, 2020.”

The Catholic Diocese of Makurdi of Benue State reports that the state suffered 119 Fulani herdsmen attacks and over 500 deaths between January and December 2023. This prompted the passage of the Open Gazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law to curb further attacks.

Nigeria rose to sixth in the 2025 Global Terrorism Index, fuelled by Fulani herders, bandits, and Boko Haram attacks.

This spate of killings and the country’s alarming insecurity profile should shock President Bola Tinubu into summoning the courage to return to the initiative of the First Republic by banning open grazing.


The herders cite desertification as an excuse for herding. They also claim that land has been reserved for them, which is not true.

Banning open grazing and introducing ranching will entrench peace, grossly minimise insecurity, endue peace, increase farmers’ and herders’ yield and productivity, grow income, and make the fight against terrorism easier for the military.

The introduction of the Rural Grazing Area, the National Grazing Reserve Bill 2016 in the National Assembly, and the Livestock Intervention Programme have not stemmed the ugly tide of bloodletting because they are divisive.

In the throes of acute herders’ menace, the Southern Governors’ Forum decided in August 2021 to pass the anti-grazing law in the southern states but later developed cold feet.

There is no open herding in the United States and Brazil, which have larger cattle populations than Nigeria. Nigeria should adopt global best practices.

The criminal activities of bandits and Fulani herdsmen are a dent in the security credentials of the Tinubu administration. The President and the governors must redeem that by taking the hard decision now!

helinues:
Toh

iwaeda:
https://punchng.com/herdsmen-killings-time-to-ban-open-grazing/

nairalanda1:
Time also to get a working rail system in place

In the USA, the work of cowboys was to herd cows like the Fulani. Back then ther was violence like cattle rustling and fighting with the indians.

What ended that was the development of a rail system that enabled the transport of cattle by rail. Yes the era of cowboys also slowly came to an end too.

Ever8090:
ranching was introduced before rail system sir

Ever8090:
I mean ranching is the quick fixed... beside we have been transporting cows by trucks up to this day. So method of transportation has nothing to do with the killings open grazing is responsible

US designates Fulani Herdsmen as terrorist group.

You asked for evidence?

USA to designate Nigeria as CPC with heavy sanctions on President Tinubu, NSA, CDS, IGP.

States with IDP Camps, Herdsmen inflicted

1. Benue
2. Enugu
3. Plateau
4. Ebonyi
5. Nasarawa
6. Kaduna
7. Kastina pic.twitter.com/JNTAab1P4X

— NewNG Is POssible (@NDCNigNews) March 16, 2025

US designates Fulani Herdsmen as terrorist group.

You asked for evidence?

USA to designate Nigeria as CPC with heavy sanctions on President Tinubu, NSA, CDS, IGP.

States with IDP Camps, Herdsmen inflicted

1. Benue
2. Enugu
3. Plateau
4. Ebonyi
5. Nasarawa
6. Kaduna
7. Kastina pic.twitter.com/JNTAab1P4X

— NewNG Is POssible (@NDCNigNews) March 16, 2025

Kingpele:
Yea is long overdue....open grazing is primitive...but I believe this herders are just hiding behind grazing of cows to unleash terror on citizens of the Nigeria especially farmers..but government don't have the courage to tackle insecurity.. if is to threaten citizens that voice out their frustration in the midst hardship they'll be swift