By Kanayo Umeh, Abuja
A former Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, has asked President Bola Tinubu to consider establishing state police to end security challenges in the country.
He also urged the President to revoke Nigeria’s commitment to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocol on free movement, which, according to him, has allowed influx of herders from other West African countries.
Ogbeh made the call in Abuja, yesterday, during launch of the Young Women in Agriculture (YWA) champion in Nigeria, organised by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, Read and Earn Federation (UNESCO-REF), under its Strategic Intervention Programme -ALPHA (SIP-ALPHA).
One of the key recommendations of the 2014 National Conference set up by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration was creation of state police.
The report, however, was jettisoned by the last administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, despite calls by many Nigerians to implement its recommendations, especially the creation of state police.
Ogbeh, who was Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from 2001 to January 2005, said: “Local people know who bandits and trouble-makers are, except the foreign ones who come in because of an agreement that has been signed about moving from West African countries to graze. Have you ever seen a copy of that agreement? It is wrong. It should be revoked.
“You can’t say cows from Mauritania, Mali, Senegal can come into Nigeria to graze and many of the herders come well armed. And when they see so much grass here, they don’t want to go back. Some of them see that the solution is to kill all the local farmers and take over their land. It is wrong. That is the plain truth and nobody seems to want to address it.
“They have to cancel that agreement. I will personally present a copy of that agreement to President Tinubu to see, and tell every West African country to design its own ranches, grow its own grasses, let its cows stay there and feed there.”
Source: The Guardian