How FG Still Moves On Retracing Of Grazing Routes In Nigeria

As some state governors in Nigeria kicks against the plan to retrace and recover grazing routes across the country, the Federal Government seems to continue on its plan to trace grazing routes.

Candidreporters.com gathered that stock routes, popularly called grazing routes, are currently being retraced and recovered by the Federal Government for herders to graze their cattle.

The Federal Government had earlier agued that it was meant to address the clashes between herdsmen and farmers.

From investigation, some of the routes are believed to have been encroached upon due to human activities.

Facts indicated that the federal government had embarked on a process of identifying monuments along the routes in order to get them back as locations for cattle grazing.

Contrary to the expectations of many Nigerians particularly in South that the grazing routes retracing and eventual recovery might not see the light of day.

Candidreporters.com also gathered that PUNCH correspondence claimed that an officials of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development confided in him that the routes’ recovery would go on.

They, however, said it would be done mainly in non-conflict zones.

They also stated that routes that had been encroached upon as a result of the development of public infrastructure might be left out of the recovery exercise.

The acting Director, Animal Husbandry Department, FMARD, Winnie Lai-Solarin, stated that while cattle ranching had been one of the major options canvassed for herders, not every pastoralist would be able to afford ranching at the moment.

In her words: “There are some stock routes that we have across the country, and in the past, we had monuments along these stock routes, particularly the primary stock routes.

“And in the course of farming or other human activities along those stock routes, the monuments were altered, but we know where they are. So we are saying that some of them can be retraced.

“And this is particularly for areas that are not encroached upon as of now. The pastoralists know the routes, and on some of those routes, you will see the pieces of the monuments along them.”

“So for those that are not encroached upon and are not in conflict zones, we will go ahead to retrace and guide the pastoralists along them. We didn’t get to where we are today in one day and so we cannot expect that every pastoralist should suddenly start ranching now.

“Some would still have to move but let’s keep the movement as safe as possible and in areas that are not conflict zones. That is what I am saying. We are not going to retrace stock routes where there are infrastructures that are for the public good.” Lai-Solarin added.

Another official at the FMARD familiar with the development stated that the government was not happy with the killings associated with clashes between herdsmen and farmers.

The official, who requested not to be named for lack of authorisation, explained that the stock routes were in three classes.

The source said, “We need to create safe places that are easy for them (herders) to graze their cattle so that they won’t need to travel on the roads. We have primary and secondary stock routes and in some cases, we have tertiary stock routes.”

Providing further explanation on the three classes of routes, the official said, “The primary stock routes are the major routes that run in a North-to-South direction from the Sahel to the coastal market.

“And then, there are some major routes that run inter-state from the North, while others run intra-state.”

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sabo Nanono, had announced on Thursday that the Federal Capital Territory and 22 states had registered for the National Livestock Transformation Plan as part of measures to establish grazing reserves in their domains.

He also announced that seven of these states had earmarked 400,000 hectares of land for the initiative, as the establishment of grazing reserves were currently ongoing in Nasarawa, Borno, Niger, Kaduna and some other states.

“Twenty-two states and the Federal Capital Territory have registered with the NLTP office, out of which 10 states have created their own teams which have been trained by the federal office,” Nanono stated.

He explained that seven of the 10 states earmarked about 19 grazing reserves for the implementation of the NLTP, with a total land size of approximately 400,00 hectares.

The NLTP was designed by the Federal Government to address the lingering farmer-herder crisis across the country. The plan was inaugurated by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in 2018 at the Gongoshi Grazing Reserve in Mayo-Belwa Local Government Area of Adamawa State.

The plan was designed to run from 2019 to 2028 as a collaborative project among the federal and state governments, farmers, pastoralists, and private investors.

In February 2021, the Federal Government said it had mapped out 30 grazing reserves across the country for the NLTP implementation.

However, some states, especially in the south, had rejected the idea, saying they had no land to donate to the Federal Government for the initiative. They said any individual who wanted to go into ranching should rather look for land and buy.

But in a new twist, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), during a recent interview with Arise Television, supported open grazing.

He said he had directed the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), to produce a gazette which delineated grazing routes in all parts of the country in the First Republic.