- This is a misnomer that the authorities have to address
Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) has to redouble its efforts at apprehending herders who still graze their cattle on roads in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), in contravention of the ban on such by the FCT minister, Muhammed Bello. Bello had on September 3 directed herdsmen to stop grazing their cattle on streets in the federal capital, but reports say the directive is being obeyed more in the breach. Herdsmen still graze their cattle along the roads in the FCT, including the Central Business District, sometimes causing traffic holdup. The minister who described the practice as bizarre tasked the AEPB and the FCT Task Force Team on Environment to stop it forthwith.
The matter becomes more perplexing with the AEPB Director, Mrs. Olutoyin Olanipekun’s claim that she met with the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association as far back as June, during which the herdsmen pledged to stop grazing their livestock in the city. “The association said we should give them time to educate their members, but since then, we have not heard from them and all efforts to reach them have not been successful, but we have been seeing herdsmen grazing their livestock and we have been confiscating the animals and charging their owners to court,” she stated.
Although, Olanipekun said her agency had confiscated seven cows and 23 sheep for grazing in the city and the owners fined by the mobile court before the animals were released, it would seem this is not enough. Otherwise, the practice should have abated. The agency would have to do more monitoring than it is presently doing. Mrs Olanipekun’s excuse that the itinerant nature of the herders makes it difficult for her team to apprehend them is untenable. “One of the challenges we are facing is that the herders are nomadic and are very mobile. When we get a signal that they are at a particular location, by the time our men would come with the truck to evacuate the animals, the herders would have moved to another location and tracing them is sometimes difficult.”
It takes quite some time for cattle to move or be moved from one point to another on foot. Therefore, time lag cannot be a problem. With regards to the education of the herdsmen as promised by the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, that too should not take eternity for people who want to take to correction.
Beef is consumed all over the world but that does not give the cattle farmers the right to wander about with their cattle. Indeed, ours must be one of the few countries where cattle are transported by itinerant herders, destroying farmlands and often leading to clashes between the herdsmen and their host communities.
Mercifully, things are looking up for the herdsmen with the introduction by the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) of rail movement of cattle from the north to the southern part of the country early this month. We want to see more of this. It is cost-effective and even safer for both the cattle and the herdsmen. More cattle owners should key into the scheme.
Ultimately, it is in the best interest of the cattle owners to set up ranches across the country where the cattle would be moved to upon arrival at their stations by rail. Cattle should not be wandering about on roads, especially in our federal capital. Those who conceived the idea of moving the capital from Lagos to Abuja must be wondering what has happened to our national pride.
