The Chairman, Senate Committee on Army, Ali Ndume, has faulted the decision of southern governors to ban open grazing of cattle stating that open grazing was not the cause of insecurity.
Africa Today News, New York, recalls that Southern Governors Forum (SGF), had at its meeting held in Asaba, Delta State Capital, on Tuesday, unanimously prohibited open grazing in the region in order to checkmate herders-farmers clashes.
Speaking with newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday, Ndume, who represents Borno South in the Senate, said Nigeria’s security problems are not about open grazing.
The issue of insecurity, he argued, is unique to each geopolitical zone.
The lawmaker said: ‘The governors are deviating from the matter. The problem is not about open grazing. The problem is security. Most of the insecurity problems confronting Nigeria is not in the bush.
‘We have four different types of security challenges. We have the insurgency in the North East, IPOB through the Eastern Security Network is creating insecurity in the South East, there is banditry in the North West.
‘It is only in the North Central that we have issues of farmers-herders clashes. There is less problem in the South – West except for the clashes between the herdsmen and the farmers and the agitators for the Yoruba nation.
‘Similarly, in the South-South, they are trying to instigate the avengers but so far the area is peaceful. The issue of insecurity is unique to each zone.’
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK