Ekiti barns night grazing, warns herdsmen against destruction of agriculture investment

The Ekiti State Government has issued a stern warning to herders operating in the state not to make a mess of the government’s huge investment in agriculture by allowing their flocks to invade and destroy farms in the state.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters, Ebenezer Ogundana, a retired Brigadier General, gave the warning in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday during a stakeholders’ meeting of Ekiti State Farmers/Herders Peace Committee.

He said the government will,henceforth, invoke the full weight of the law on any underage found herding or anyone herding at night.

Mr Ogundana, who is also the Chairperson of the committee, disclosed that the governor, Abiodun Oyebanji, inaugurated the committee in 2023 in his effort to bring permanent end to farmers/herders clashes in the state.

Collaboration

The governor’s adviser affirmed that the ban became imperative to bringing peaceful coexistence and mutual understanding between farmers and pastoralists in the state.

He said: “Since the government will not fold its arms and allow the lawlessness to continue, the Herders/Farmers Peace Committee was inaugurated by Governor Biodun Oyebanji in 2023.

“The committee is to interface between the herders and farmers. In addition, there are other policies and control measures put in place to strengthen the relationship between them.

“Some of these policies include anti-grazing law which is an Act of the State House of Assembly. The law is to ensure that there is no grazing at night, prohibition of under-age from grazing, no grazing on the farmland and the defaulters are to be dealt with according to the law of the land.”

He said as part of the effort to ensure effective coordination and compliance at local government levels, the committee inaugurated 18 local government coordinators to serve its representatives at the LGAs, noting that the effort will bring about the desired cooperation among herders, farmers and the host communities.

Traditional rulers’ roles

Mr Ogundana called on traditional rulers, local government chairpersons and representatives of farmers and herders to create a forum where they can dialogue on the need to be inter-dependence and invariably address the issue of suspicion, trespasses by either party as well as educate one another on the importance of abiding with the anti-grazing law of the state.

He also hinted that the government has set up farm settlements across the state in order to address food shortage. This, he said, is in addition to the Agro-Task Force comprising security agencies to provide protection for farmlands and farmers.

He added that the identification of herders, farmers and the host communities staying on the farm settlements and the registration of the concerned groups is in progress.

He said: “This will enable the communities to identify intruders or criminals entering the areas to carry out illegal activities, instead of allowing innocent people to suffer. You are requested to cooperate with the team that will be going round to carry out the exercise.

“There is the need to prevent herders migrating from other states to Ekiti State. It is a general belief that the migrating herders come from outside Nigeria to graze in Nigeria. This group of herders are suspected to have some criminal tendencies and they are destructive in nature.”

Agric, police commissioners speak

The Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Ebenezer Boluwade, also revealed Governor Oyebanji’s plan to invest heavily in agriculture in 2025, hence the need to make adequate preparation towards ensuring security and protection of farmers and farmlands from miscreants that that come in form of herders.

Mr Boluwade also noted that there is hardly any society that can achieve development without peace, adding that this year alone, government had invested over N2 billion in agriculture. He stressing the importance of seeing the turnover to encourage both government and farmers to do more.

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Speaking on behalf of all security chiefs in the state, Commissioner of Police, Kayode Akinwale, commended the efforts of the governor at ensuring peace and security in the state and called on traditional rulers to take charge of the security of their domain by constituting security vigilantes to protect their communities.

The leadership, Ekiti Etate Council of Traditional Rulers, represented by the Onisan of Isan Ekiti, Oba Gabriel Adejuwon, called on security forces to be alive to their responsibility as he expressed trust in the various commitment of government at ensuring peace and adequate security in the state.