By Dele Ogunyemi, Ibadan
Worried by the likely repercussions of the Open Rearing and Grazing Regulation Bill 2019 which has already passed through its second reading at the Oyo State House of Assembly, the Fulani herdsmen across the state have pleaded with the State Government to have a rethink by withdrawing it from seeing the light of the day.
They urged Oyo State Government to learn from the Benue State experience saying that “the implementation of the Bill as it is will cause commotion.”
Rising from a meeting in Igangan, an agrarian town in Ibarapa North Local Government area of Oyo State on Tuesday, hundreds of Fulani herdsmen from various parts of the State resolved to checkmate Oyo Government’s plan through legal option.
“We will go to court. We will seek legal redress if Oyo State Government insists on imposing this Bill on us,” the Fulani herdsmen unanimously resolved at the end of the meeting which lasted over five hours at the popular Kara Market in Igangan.
According to the Fulani herdsmen, at their Igangan meeting presided over by the Sarkin Fulani of Oyo State, Alhaji Saliu Abduk-Kadir, the Oyo State Anti-Open Grazing Bill is “too draconian”.
They specifically accused the State Government of targetting Fulani herdsmen with the anti-open grazing bill with a view to crippling them from practising their age-long cattle rearing activities across Oyo State.
The Oyo State Anti-Open grazing bill which was jointly sponsored by the Speaker of the Assembly, Rt. Hon. Adebo Ogundoyin and the deputy Speaker, Hon. Abiodun Fadeyi had two weeks ago witnessed a public hearing where stakeholders including farmers groups and the Fulani community bared their minds on how to make it workable.
In an 18-page position paper presented at that forum, the National Chairman of Gan Allah Fulani Development Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Sale Bayari, stated that “it is impossible in our country for any peasant small scale herdsman to go into ranching” and submitted that the bill if passed into law would punish poor herders.
The Fulani hersmen at the Igangan meeting maintained that for the Anti-Open grazing bill to be implementable, Oyo State Government would have to provide RUGA or grazing reserve for cattle rearers where there would be easy accessibility to water and grazing facilities.
According to them, failure to do this, “the implementation of the Bill as it is will cause commotion.”
The Oyo State Secretary of Gan Allah Fulani Development Association, Mr. Garba Umar, while reeling out the communiqué of the meeting to journalists, said that the Fulani herdsmen had resorted to reject the Bill in its totality because they perceived it as one that would cause serious setback to their means of livelihood.
Making an illusion to Benue State where the Anti-Open Grazing law is currently applicable, the Fulani herdsmen stated that it was the bill that resulted in that State having about four different Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps as opposed to the situation before in the state.
“It is simply this issue that threw up IDP Camps in Benue. And we don’t want all this to happen here in Oyo State where we have been living peacefully with our fellow farmers for ages,” the Fulani herdsmen submitted.
The communiqué read further: “However, if we are pushed to the wall, we know the next level. Our next level is to seek the legal option. We will go to the court of law over the matter.
“But for now, we are begging Oyo State Government to see us as Nigerians and partners in progress who, for ages immemorial, have added values to the economy of the State.
“It is also a matter of fact that we Fulani dominate large percentage of voters in Oyo State. Government only recognize us during electioneering and voting periods. Government is not giving us any facility or loan to boost our cattle rearing business while the farmers, on the other hand, get agric loans, fertilizers, etc. Is this the only way Government is now repaying us for our patriotism?
“We are equally opposed to ranching which is capital intensive. Why not ask the farmers also to fence their farm holdings? How much are we going to be spending per caged cow per annum in form of feeding, etc.? We do not agree.
“Government should rather checkmate the inflow of foreign Fulanis who have been responsible for the security challenges in the land.”