Former
President Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday declared that it was not the job
of President Muhammadu Buhari to address the deadly clashes between
herdsmen and farmers.
This
is coming as he decried the increasing level of hunger being
experienced by Nigerians across the country, stressing that it was sad
to note that about 65 per cent of the citizens were faced with food
insecurity.
He
also urged the Federal Government to drastically reduce or ban the
importation of staple food crops, as Nigeria had the potential to
produce most of the agricultural products that were being imported into
the country.
Obasanjo
spoke during the 23rd Annual LAPO Development Forum which had as its
theme ‘Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture in Nigeria: Challenges
and Opportunities,’ and was organised by the Lift Above Poverty
Organisation in Abuja.
The
former President stated that he often got angry whenever people blamed
Buhari for not making comments as regards the destruction done by
herdsmen, noting that the issue was not a national but a state and local
governments matter.
Obasanjo
said, “And some of the words that have been coming out from our
leaders, particularly from state governors, are not helpful; they are
not helpful! This issue is not a federal issue and another thing I don’t
like about it is that when you talk of Fulani herdsmen, people talk of
the President.
“Now
because the President of Nigeria is a Fulani man, then you would expect
him to jump up and say this one is condemned and all that, no. That is
not his job. And when people make comments like this, it annoys me. They say the President hasn’t said anything about
this, that he used to be the patron of something…, but I believe that
the ranching thing failed because the states and the local governments
failed to do what they ought to have done.”
He
noted that during the colonial era, some areas were reserved as grazing
zones in most parts of the North, but wondered what had happened to the
grazing reserves and routes.
Obasanjo
said, “I need to state that it is the responsibility of local
governments to take care of them. Now, states should have even done a
lot better, (but) they haven’t, and then when you have cattle rustling,
herdsmen and farmers’ conflict, you try to make it a national issue. But
it is not really a national issue.
“For
me, the herdsmen are entitled to be able to look after their animals
but they are not entitled to destroy the crops of the rural farmers, it
is unacceptable.”
The
former President, however, wondered how Fulani herdsmen were able to
arm themselves with sophisticated weapons and maintained that it was not
necessary to take the issue to the National Assembly as it should be
addressed at the state and local governments levels.
On
the level of hunger in the land, Obasanjo stated that the purchasing
power of many households in Nigeria had plummeted and that food
insecurity among Nigerians was rising fast.
“In
2016, the percentage of food insecure households increased from 33 per
cent in February/March to 38 per cent in June/July, that is an increase
of five per cent, which was as at June/July. We don’t know what it is
now,” he said.
The
former President explained that the reason why the naira had continued
to fall against the United States’ dollar was because “the country
spends more than it earns.”
He
called for a reduction of importation of certain items, particularly
food items that could be produced in Nigeria, adding that it was
“unpardonable for Nigerians to spend huge funds importing toothpicks.”
According
to him, Nigeria’s appetite for imported products had made it difficult
for the country to be able to produce enough food to feed itself.
Obasanjo
advised the government to see agriculture as a sector that had the
capacity to lift Nigeria out of recession and recommended that efforts
should be made to guarantee food security for Nigerians.
Earlier
in his remarks, the Founder of LAPO, Dr. Godwin Ehigiamusoe, had stated
that the forum was organised in order to focus on issues and challenges
of development, as well as address the imperatives of food security
within the context of diversification of the national economy.
Punch
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