The FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike recently announced an end to open-grazing of cattle as part of his avowed commitment to restore the status of Abuja as the Federal Capital Territory.
Until now, residents and visitors to the FCT contend with the bad odour and the ugly sight of dung from animals, dropped at every corner of the city which attract flies, putting residents at risk of contracting diseases.
Few hours after his swearing in as Minister, former governor Nyesom Woke declared, “I will step on toes, the big and mighty; I will step on your toes if you are doing something wrong,”. He insisted that herders move their cattle outside the city and would no longer be allowed to graze on the grasses used for the beautification of the city.
Now the question is, how does the Minister intend to drive the herdsmen out of the city centre without putting in place measures that would ensure they continue doing their business and earning their livelihood as legitimate citizens.
And experts suggest that it would create a similar situation to the ban on Okada, street hawking, and demolishing shops in Abuja without providing alternative measures to the affected people.
It could also be compared to the removal of fuel subsidies without proper consultations and preparation to cushion the effect.
A concerned citizen remarked that stopping herdsmen from moving their cows around the FCT could be a herculean task for the new FCT Administration and so, it requires that serious planning and proper consultation with the appropriate stakeholders are made.
The Minister was rather more subtle when he talked about the issues last weekend.
Wike said, “We will consult with the herdsmen to see how we will stop [open grazing] because we cannot allow cows inside the city.
“They can be outside the city because the grasses are outside the city. The grass in the city was planted to beautify the city. It is not that one that they would eat. so, we will discuss…”
The National President of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Baba Othman Ngelzarma, spoke to newsmen. He said they are looking forward to meeting the FCT Minister in order to table before him some of their challenges, which among them are the large dysfunctional grazing reserves.
“The minister has said that he would invite the cattle owners before making a decision. That he would not do something that someone will come out to say they were not contacted.
“So this is the situation that we always want. We know Abuja is a city and cows are not supposed to move around or roam about the city. It’s very embarrassing. We are all civilised people.
“Even during the era of the former Minister, we had series of discussions on this. We had an agreement that no cows should move in the central city area. But in the periphery, in the sahel they can move because all the grazing reserves they have have been taken over from them by the farmers.
“We have grazing reserves in Abuja here that have been taken over by farmers. So we need someone of Wike’s disposition to come and settle this once and for all.
“We have about four grazing reserves around Abuja here but they require development, they require other things in them before you stop these guys from moving around.
“Because the whole of Abuja is a grazing reserve that was taken over by the Federal Capital. But this does not mean they have the right to move because it is Federal Capital Territory and the pride of every Nigerian; it is so embarrassing in the central city area.
“This is the agreement we have with the former Minister. But they can go around in the rural areas because the grazing reserves are not developed and there’s no pasture in it and farmers are gradually encroaching on them.
“This is why we want to have interaction with Wike himself because we know he is a gentle man and that he understands the dynamics and that this will give us the opportunity for the grazing reserves to be developed.
“And we know Wike will develop them. He will recollect our grazing lands and develop them. We are yearning to interact with him. We want to have a discussion with him on how we can seek out these problems. It’s very wrong for cows to roam in the city, we know.
“But mind you, not all the cows roaming the city belong to the local pastoralists. Some of these cows are owned by big men in the city who are employing the pastoralists to graze for them but that’s notwithstanding, whatever it is, cows are not supposed to roam in the central city area.
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“But because the grazing reserves are not developed we have to consider the pastoralists too. There are places reserved for them to graze their cows but those places are not developed.
“No water, grazes or any form of infrastructure. They deserve to be developed for the interest of pastoralists and for the sake of justice and fairness.
‘We know Wike. He is the one to do this job for us because he’s the aggressive type and with his disposition, he’ll return and develop our grazing land for us. Whenever he invites us, we’re ready to come and meet him and sort out this problem once and for all,” he declared.
However, a sister organisation to MACBAN, the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, has a slightly different view about the movement of cows in the FCT or any other city in the country.
The National Secretary of the body, Saleh Alhassan Kubah, who spoke to correspondents, said nobody can drive the cows away or stop them from grazing anywhere in the north.
According to him, the former Rivers State Governor should rather focus on how to develop the city of Abuja instead of talking about cows.
He said that until the government is able to make available grazing areas for cattle, it would be a futile move to uproot herders from the FCT, adding that most of the cows seen around Abuja belong to the city elites.
“Where is the grazing land in Abuja? Is it inside the building they will graze? The thing is, Wike is not consequential. We have seen Ortom come and go.
“So we don’t want to engage Wike, who has to take ‘Ogogoro’ [Alcoholic drink] before he goes to the office every morning.
“You’ve not heard it before? He said it himself. Let him deliver services
