Six state governments, namely Delta, Cross River, Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Oyo, and Edo have said they will not donate any land to be used as grazing reserves for herdsmen under the National Livestock Transformation Programme.
However, 17 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory, as well as three southern states, namely Ekiti, Ondo, and Ebonyi, have signed up for the programme.
The Federal Government had in February said it had mapped out 30 grazing reserves across the country for the planned implementation of the NLTP.
The government said the implementation of the programme would result in a lasting solution to the farmers-herders crisis in the country.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Agriculture, Dr. Andrew Kwasari, said in a statement, “And every state that adopts the NLTP, it is to its own reality. It is not conscription, but if they do it this way, it will modernise livestock and crop production, remove conflict, create dialogue, and create cohesion in communities.”
In 2018, the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, had inaugurated the NLTP at the Gongoshi Grazing Reserve in the Mayo-Belwa Local Government Area of Adamawa State.
He said the plan was designed to run from 2019 to 2028 as a collaborative project among the federal and state governments, farmers, pastoralists and private investors.
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However, some southern state governments on Saturday rejected the idea of creating a grazing reserve for herders. They said they did not have any land to donate for the initiative.
They stressed that any individual who wanted to go into ranching should rather look for land to buy.
The Delta State government said that the state had moved past talks on grazing reserves for herdsmen, saying it would never be part of such a plan.
The state Commissioner for Information, Mr. Charles Aniagwu said, “I don’t know the one they are talking about. We have passed the issue of debate on grazing reserves. Anybody talking about grazing reserves now does not wish this country well.
“Is the Federal Government rearing cattle? Cattle-rearing is a private business and if a person needs land for ranching, they should buy. Ours is to regulate their activities and collect tax from them. We don’t have land to give anybody.”
Also, the Anambra State government said it had no plans to create grazing reserves for herdsmen.
The state Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, C-Don Adinuba, said the state had the smallest landmass in the country bedevilled by the scourge of erosion, hence it would not embark on any project that would further deplete its land.
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