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Tasks governors to develop action plans to stop menace
The Yoruba Initiative (TYI) a socio-cultural and non-political group in the Southwest has raised the alarm on the menace constituted by suspected Fulani herdsmen on farmlands in the South west and other parts of the country. It describes the unceasing encroachment as a threat to the economy and poses danger to the distressing national economy.
TYI in a statement signed on behalf of the group by Mr Folu Olamiti, Chairman Media Committee, alluded to the most outcries and complaints from farmers in South West, Delta, South Eastern states and recently from Catholic Bishops Conference Of Nigeria (CBCN) in Abuja on the havoc being wreaked by suspected Fulani herdsmen on farmlands.
The group, against this background, therefore called on the Southwest governors to take the problem as a challenge by collaborating with the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) to immediately develop an action plan aimed towards preventing further encroachment of farm lands.
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TYI in the statement said the Federal Government should urgently intervene by looking into the problems and dangers posed by the cows rampaging farmlands in the south-west and other parts of the federation, averring that the problem if not curbed has the potency to cause commotions and disaffections among ethnic groups in the country.
The group noted that the grazing of cattle on farmlands in specific areas of the south-west by the herders had been discouraging the business of farming in the region, more so as farmers continued to count their losses each time cows maliciously devoured crops in their farms.
The group lamented that the efforts by the Federal Government to diversify the economy with farming as a major anchor, are already being defeated through the danger now being constituted by the rampage on arable lands by cows, thereby rendering them useless for viable farming ventures saying “if it continues it will worsen poverty and food scarcity not only in the south-west, but also across the federation in the foreseeable future.”
