IGP to govs - Establish cattle ranches before grazing law

The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Kpotum Idris, has urged state governors to prioritize the establishment of cattle ranches in their various states before enacting the anti-grazing law. 
Idris made the call at the Northern states stakeholders’ security summit in Kaduna yesterday, which was attended by traditional and religious leaders, as well as government officials. He said the provision of cattle ranches will make the law acceptable to all the parties concerned. The IGP said to reduce clashes between farmers and herders in Nigeria, state governors must endeavour to establish grazing ranches before enacting laws to prohibit open rearing and grazing.  He however warned that hasty formulation and implementation of anti-grazing law is capable of aggravating herders/farmers clashes in the country. “I have visited Benue and Nasarawa states and observed that the crises trailing the Benue State prohibition of open grazing of livestock would have been mitigated if it had first established grazing ranches as provided in the law established by the state Assembly,” the IGP said. He said herders cannot be arrested and punished for open grazing when ranches are not established. The police boss said “The protection of lives and property in any society must not be left to the police alone, it must be everybody’s business.”  On funding, the IGP said the police force requires over N560bn annually to be transformed to international standards. He said out of the N31bn budgeted for capital and overhead expenditure for the police in 2017, less than N10bn was released. He however said the National Assembly is exploring alternative sources of funding for the police, adding that when the Police Trust Fund (PTF) bill is passed into law, the funding needs of the police would have been adequately taken care of.