Senator Dickson Consoles Benue, Plateau People, Renews Call For Ranching To End Killings

Senator Henry Seriake Dickson has renewed his call for the federal government to expedite ranching as a solution to the country’s perennial farmer-herder conflicts.

His stance was expressed in a condolence message to the governments and people of Benue and Plateau following the most recent killings in the States.

“The time has come for everyone to see this problem as an existential Nigerian issue of national security that must be addressed, regardless of ethnicity, religion, politics, or sentiments that normally colour national discourse.

This is why, while contributing to a motion on this issue on the Senate floor, I urged the Senate to resolve to implement mandatory ranching, including support and orientation for herdsmen, followed by a nationwide ban on open grazing.

“Using the newly established Ministry of Livestock, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of Nigeria, and other institutions, we must create a mechanism and funding for mandatory ranching and support policies for livestock, herders, aquaculture, and all other agribusinesses across the country,” the statement read.

“Then a plan must be developed to strengthen all security agencies and community leaders to work together to combat and flush out all bandits and criminals from our rural areas and forests, as well as to enforce the prohibition of open grazing throughout Nigeria.”

The Senate approved the motion.
“We must do this as a national imperative, free of politics or sentiments,” Senator Dickson stated.

The Senator representing Bayelsa West went on to say, “I have spoken with my brother and friend, the Governor of Benue State,  Fr. Hyacinth Alia, as well as officials of the Plateau State Government, to express my condolences on behalf of my family and the good people of my Senatorial District, and behalf of all Nigerians of goodwill, over the dastardly and callous massacres that occurred recently in communities in those two states.

“Benue, Plateau, Zamfara, Southern Kaduna, and a few other states have experienced genocidal levels of criminality, lawlessness, and brutality. Not only are gunmen terrorising and ransacking helpless communities and committing mass murders in these states, but the level of banditry, kidnapping, and killing has spread to many other states, nearly eclipsing the Boko Haram insurgency that has plagued our country’s northeast for years,” Senator Dickson said.

“It is not acceptable in this country or any other,” he emphasised, “for people to be attacked, maimed, killed, and communities ransacked at will without consequences, while the rest of the country and the world moves on.” It is the most direct evidence of state failure and collapse.

“At this point, the country’s leadership and the highest levels of the security architecture must have a frank and honest discussion about what to do, and do it quickly.”

He listed the factors contributing to the national security crisis as competition for resources resulting in farmer/herder clashes, illegal mining activities, criminal displacement of indigenous people for land acquisition, criminal, kidnapping, and banditry activities, and the climate crisis.

“While there are elements of banditry and pure criminality that have nothing to do with resource competition, there is also a well-known angle that has to do with perennial clashes between herdsmen and farmers in communities all over the country,” he said.

Senator Dickson promised to “raise these issues with the appropriate authorities, in the coming day.”