By Winnie Onu, Makurdi
The Minister of Defence, retired General Christopher Musa, has warned against cattle grazing on farmlands, saying farmers must be allowed to cultivate their farms safely while livestock production thrives without conflict.
Musa made the declaration on Monday in Makurdi at the North Central Zonal Security Summit, where he called for collective efforts to end the persistent farmers-herders crisis threatening peace and security in the region.
He said the Federal Government was committed to improving security across the country, stressing that protecting farmers and creating an enabling environment for livestock production required concerted action by stakeholders.
The minister said the summit was convened to hear directly from communities across the region about the security threats confronting them and to develop common solutions to the challenges.
“Farmers must be able to work safely in their communities and farmlands,” Musa said, while cautioning against allowing cattle to stray into farms.
He said stakeholders must work together to ensure that farmers could produce food without fear, while herders and other livestock producers could also carry out their activities without friction.
Musa’s position came against the backdrop of persistent farmer-herder conflicts, banditry, kidnapping, communal violence and other security challenges confronting states in the North-Central region.
Earlier, Benue State Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, said the security summit had come at a critical time, given the growing threats confronting communities across the region.
Alia identified banditry, farmer-herder conflicts, kidnapping, violent extremism spillover, organised crime and attacks on rural communities among the challenges requiring a collective regional response.
He said Benue and other North-Central states faced peculiar security situations that could not be effectively addressed through isolated efforts by individual states or security agencies.
The governor urged stakeholders to put aside their differences and focus on issues capable of uniting the people rather than those that divide them and fuel insecurity.
“It is my considered position that our diversity should be a source of strength rather than weakness,” Alia said.
He asked stakeholders to identify the issues that unite the people and those that divide them and breed insecurity, stressing that collective action against insecurity would significantly improve the region’s chances of restoring peace.
“If we can unite and confront insecurity collectively, half the battle is already won,” the governor said.
