The Federal Government on Thursday explained why non-citizens of Nigeria were still allowed to graze their cattle across the country despite the fact that it had been established that many herdsmen who were involved in clashes in Nigerian villages were not Nigerians.
According to a report by Punch, the Nigerian government says the ECOWAS Transhumance Protocol has given the right of free movement to citizens of member countries, adding that the law as similar to the fundamental right to freedom of movement in the Nigerian constitution.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, disclosed this at the Stakeholders’ Consultative Forum on Grazing Reserves and Stock Routes in Abuja.
He said, “The Nigerian constitution has given every citizen the fundamental right to freedom of movement in search of legitimate businesses; transhumance pastoralism is seen along these lines.
“For pastoralists from neighbouring West African countries, access to grazing rights in other countries in the ECOWAS zone including Nigeria, are guaranteed by the ECOWAS Transhumance Protocol of 1998 and ECOWAS Protocol of Free Movement of Goods and Persons in West Africa.”
Ogbeh stated that the ECOWAS Transhumance Protocol allows for herders to move across borders in search of pasture upon fulfilling the conditions laid down in the Protocol.
“So it is not strange to see a Malian, Burkinabe or Nigerien pastoralist grazing his cows, sheep or goats in Nigeria or a Nigerian pastoralist grazing his livestock in Benin, Togo or Ghana and by extension, transhumance pastoralists from other neighbouring countries,” he added.
The minister noted that pastoralists who provide bulk of livestock and dairy products consumed locally, employ mobility as a production strategy.
He, however, regretted that the movement of animals within and across agro-ecological zones had precipitated resource use competition that had resulted in high incidence of conflicts between crop farmers and pastoralists across the country.
On ways to mitigate the conflict between the groups and promote commercial livestock production, the minister stated that grazing reserves and stock routes’ development and utilisation had been stepped up in recent years.
“The grazing reserves are to settle transhumance pastoralists and reduce/eliminate crop farmer-pastoralist conflicts,” he said.
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