Despite outcries against the Federal Government’s cattle colony policy, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, has insisted that the initiative remains the best option to ending farmers-herdsmen conflict in the country.
The minister, who expressed grief and concern over the crisis, assured that the Federal Government would leave no stones unturned to solve the problem.
Ogbeh said this, recently, in Abuja, while receiving the report of the National Livestock Conference.
He disclosed plans for a sensitisation programme to educate herders, farmers, communities and politicians.
“We have listened to what people have said and we recognise people’s rights to freedom of expression. But let me reiterate once again that government is not seizing the land of any Nigerian to give to Fulani herdsmen to colonise. The programme is also not an appeasement of Fulani at the detriment of crop farmers. If we, as government and citizens, don’t find a practical solution to the problem as quickly as possible, it will get worse tomorrow,” he said.
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