Roaming herdsmen cause frequent clashes with farmers
The Nigerian government has said it will end the age-long culture of roaming by Fulani herdsmen in order to forestall frequent and violent clashes between the herdsmen and farmers.
According to a presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu who spoke Nigeria’s Channels Television on Tuesday, the move has become imperative as herdsmen roam around with their cattle into farmlands and eat up crops, adding that the farmers always fight back, which results in killings.
Garba Shehu said, “We’ve to stop these herders from roaming and eating up crops all over the country.
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“They drive their cattle into farmlands, and they eat up crops, and the farmers fight back, and the killings follow.
“This country cannot continue in this way,” he said.
He added: “The encroachment by desert leading to the drying up of a lot of grazing lands in the northern-most parts of the country have put pressure on the herders who are looking southwards for green grass so that their cattle will eat and also have water to drink.
“It’s a global climate change situation which is unfortunate, considering what has happened around Lake Chad basin itself drying to up about only ten per cent of its original size.”