Open Grazing As Highway To Terrorism, Mass Killings In Nigeria. 

After my piece on the re-designation of Nigeria as a country of particular concern, a lawyer in Nigeria who read the piece called to thank me for what he described as "a courageous essay" on the true security situation in Nigeria. The young attorney added that the Nigerian situation had long transcended the status of a country of particular concern. For him, "Nigeria has become a country of general concern, CGC"! Explaining further, he said that the problem of Nigeria as a country is multi-faceted ranging from terrorism, general insecurity, lies, corruption, leadership ineptitude, lack of patriotism and so on. Thus, even Trump's efforts, assuming he decides to back his words with actions, would be sabotaged by an administration which was already uncomfortable that the US wanted to come and take out terrorists who have been killing and maiming the citizens. As an optimist, I disagree with him on this point.

Beyond the strange reaction of some Nigerians to the CPC designation, the issue of terrorism in Nigeria appears to have gone beyond internal remedy because both the leadership of the country and some figures in the security agencies which are supposed to stop the menace have allegedly become complicit, turning the national security challenge into one big commercial enterprise. In business enterprises, pecuniary gains and not safety of the society are always the overriding objectives. All over the world, people in profitable enterprises do not work to end their profitable ventures: rather, they work covertly and overtly to perpetuate them. Could this be the explanation of why most of the approaches of the Nigerian government, kinetic and non-kinetic, to the security challenges in the country have become partial, pretentious and halfhearted?

For instance, the much taunted non-kinetic approach of the Federal Government should have started with one tested and trusted effective measure which other countries had fully utilized. This simple measure is to prohibit open grazing all over the Nigerian territory with orders to shoot-at-sight cattle or cows found to be openly grazed while herders involved in open-grazing should be treated as terrorists and felons. The connection between open grazing and the brand of terrorism, genocides, banditry and insurgency we have in Nigeria is too deep. In fact, open grazing is the nerve centre of all those security challenges tearing Nigeria socially and economically apart. This is true because it is open grazing that gives the bandits, killer herdsmen, terrorists and insurgents the open visa to access Nigerian local communities and unleash mayhem. It suffices to say that proliferation of arms and ammunition is also done under the cover of open grazing. A security analyst has posited that when those terrorists want to attack any community, they do reconnaissance on the target community and move themselves and their armoury to location under the pretext of open grazing. It is also alleged that when those terrorists have no cattle to facilitate their movement, they rustle other people's cattle. This is the connection between the contemporaneous escalations of cattle rustling and banditry or terrorism in Nigeria!

The former governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, and some other governors of some states in Southern Nigeria understood this, hence their patriotic efforts in enacting and enforcing anti- open grazing laws in their respective domains. However, it is public knowledge that the profiteers of the security challenges in the country exploited Federal Government powers to sabotage the great and visionary open grazing prohibition statutes.

The establishment of the Ministry of Livestock Development by the Tinubu administration, adopting ranching in order to "end wanton killings" was applauded by many Nigerians as a practical step to reformation of livestock farming in Nigeria. To many, the adoption and enforcement of ranching could automatically solve the many security challenges the crude, open grazing method had foisted on the country. Severally, I have suggested that the Federal Government statutorily bans open grazing, maps out special credit scheme for promotion of ranching and helps all livestock farmers switch to ranching or fold. However, typical of the pretentious approach of the Tinubu presidency to everything except his 2027 second-term project, the positive vision behind the Ministry of Livestock Development appears to have been sacrificed on the alter of political expediency. For one year, the ministry has become a mere talk shop with no tangible achievement while the security imbroglio has continued to fester.

In all these, former Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State deserves commendation for standing up for the ordinary people of Benue State, nay Nigeria, when it mattered most and for his pathfinding role in the anti-open grazing narrative which still remains the most cost-effective non-kinetic antidote to terrorism, banditry and insurgency in Nigeria.

At this juncture, may I remind President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, of his words the day he announced the new ministry. According to my president, “Traditional livestock system must be reformed to add significant and sustainable value to Nigeria’s socioeconomic growth and development." The Tinubu presidency should summon the courage and political will to sincerely ban open grazing and and effectively police the Nigerian borders to end killings and insurgency in Nigeria as he promised to do.