TheCable

Audu Ogbeh, the minister of agriculture and rural development, says he will meet President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday towards “solving once and for all” the problem of the invasion of Benue state communities by herdsmen.

Speaking with NAN on Thursday, Ogbeh said the invasion and massacre of the indigenes by herdsmen is no longer acceptable to the government.

He said that a formation of the Nigerian Army had been deployed to the communities to restore peace.

“Yesterday, I spoke with the ministers of defence and interior, and they assured me that they had deployed a military formation in Enugu to move in and restore peace in Agatu,” he said.

“Today, I will also be speaking with Mr President about this issue to ensure that the problem is solved once and for all.”

He said the government was taking lasting steps to prevent cattle from grazing into peoples’ communities and farmlands, adding that most of the rampaging herdsmen were from some neighbouring countries.

“We are producing massive hectares of grasslots for the consumption of cattle; we have received these grasses from Brazil and we are growing them in massive quantities,” said Ogbeh.

“Cattle herdsmen want grasses for their cattle; such grass is what we are growing in large quantities and, within the next three months, some of these will be ready.

“Most of these men are not Nigerians; they come in from places like Chad. Recently, I was in Berlin and I met the Minister of Agriculture from Congo, who complained to me that some Chadian herdsmen also invade some communities in Congo to commit similar havoc.”

Ogbeh stated that the government was in the process of enacting a legislation that would control cattle grazing in unauthorised areas.

“We are also sending a bill to the National Assembly to legislate that cattle should no longer roam in our cities and villages.

“We will equally raise the issue at the level of the African Union, to compel member-countries to take steps to prevent their herdsmen from grazing into neighbouring countries.

“It will be a major international crisis if we do not stop it now.”