The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Christopher Musa, has unequivocally stated that, to end clashes between farmers and herders, Nigerians must control the movement of their animals.
Musa stated this on Wednesday, while briefing newsmen on the forthcoming Maiden African Chiefs of Defence Staff Summit slated for August 25 to August 27, in Abuja.
He said Nigerians must embrace ranching as part of efforts to fight insecurity, adding that the old practice where there was understanding between farmers and herders had been eroded.
“We must stop killing animals. Traditionally, what we have done before is, if an animal strays into a farm, we arrest it, then the owner comes and pays fine and he takes it back. If we do that, we will have peace.
“But it is important that we get areas where we can keep these animals. They are better off when they are kept on a ranch.
“If you don’t want to call it ranching, call it whatever it is, but provide an area where they don’t need to move around.
“I want us as Nigerians to look at this so that we can deal with this issue. Because one of the big security challenges we’re having is this issue of farmer-headers,” he said.
The CDS emphasised that ranching has a lot of advantages for the owner of animals, hence should be something that should be embraced without hindrances.
According to him, once animals move around, they spend energy. They are smaller; they don’t produce so much milk for you.
