By Goodluck Ikiebe in Abuja.
The Fulani Socio Cultural Association, Miyetti Allah, has called on the National Assembly and the President to intervene and stop the current moves by some State Governors to ban open grazing.
Addressing a world news conference in Abuja, the National Secretary, Engr. Saleh Alhassan, said the anti- grazing laws and policies were populist driven agenda by desperate politicians to destroy pastoralists means of Livelihood.
“The laws being enacted by some state governors are going against the Fulani pastoralists culture, economic interest and constitutional rights,”he noted.
The National Secretary urged the government to domesticate the existing AU and ECOWAS protocols/regulations on pastoralist and Transhumance, adding that proper documentation for implementation Strategies, be put in place.
Meanwhile, the newly appointed Miyatti Allah Ambassador, Chief Amina Temitope Ajayi, aka, Mama Diaspora, says that a Blue Print had been developed for the total transformation of the Cattle rearing and farming business to increase Nigeria’s GDP.
” If we are able to implement half of the development agenda for the Fulani pastoralists, the lingering clash between Herders and farmers will be a thing of the past,”she said.
Chief Ajayi also explained that plans were underway to establish SV-NED/Miyetti Allah Train the Trainers Cattle Ranch Academy that would be attached to each cattle ranch settlement in various parts of the country.
” The first batch of the Cattle Ranch programme will be travelling to California, USA, early next year.
“The primary objective is to expose them to modern techniques and Technology in Cattle Husbandry, Dairy Products, Abattoir and Cattle field grazing”, she added.
The new ambassador Ajayi also said that the second part of the action plan was to build one million low cost houses for Fulani herdsmen attached to their farm settlements.
Our Correspondent reports that the highpoint of the occasion was the investiture of Chief Amina Ajayi as Miyetti Allah Ambassador and cultural dances.