Plateau Youths Oppose Grazing Reserves And Cow Colonies, Back Dialogue With Stakeholders
The Oasis Reporters
January 29, 2018
By Moses Gbande
The Leadership of the Plateau State Youth Council has attributed the recent events on the Plateau particularly in Irigwe land, Bokkos and Riyom to “failure of government in its primary responsibility of securing lives and properties”, according to the Chairman, Plateau State Youth Council Fabong Jemchang Yildam.
In a press statement on Monday, he expressed worries over the unchecked brigandage and the impunity that is palpable and ongoing like never before in Nigeria’s history.
“This further reinforces our belief that our people have been marked for annihilation. Agreed the farmer/herder conflict represents an existential threat to our people, yet there seems to be no agreed upon policy to curb this impending doom.
“The Plateau State Youth’s Council has in recent times, also observed with dismay the rather unfortunate development on the Plateau social media space. These ugly turn of events border around discussions on the so called cattle colonies.
“While we acknowledge and understand the sensitivity of this issue and the emotions that it evokes in our people, the dangerous and in many instances, false statements and misrepresentation of facts that characterized the debates is quite troubling.
“We have also been inundated with calls from certain quarters to comment on the matter but we have delayed until now because as a responsible Council that represents all Plateau Youths, we do not comment on rumours and fallacies.
“We at the Plateau State Youth Council have had reasons to make enquiries from government pertaining the issue and the government has come out to state in clear and categorical terms that there was never a time that the government or any of its agents subscribed to the proposed cattle colony policy of the federal government.
” It is in this light that we wish to call on all well meaning Plateau people especially our youths to ignore all unfounded rumours and falsehood being peddled to the effect that areas of the state have been earmarked for the creation of cattle colonies, as they are not true.
“We also wish to state that our position on the matter of farmer herder conflicts in Plateau State has not changed from that which we articulated in a communique released after our consultative dialogue with the Plateau Peace Building Agency about a fortnight ago.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Plateau State Youth Council is strongly opposed to the creation of grazing reserves, grazing routes and cattle colonies in any part of Plateau state. We are however, in support of multilevel dialogues with wide ranging critical stakeholders with a view to evolving a robust homegrown ranching policy that will serve as a panacea for the ultimate prohibition of open cattle grazing in the state.
“This is a demonstration of our belief that any good policy should be subject to public debate and scrutiny.
“We therefore urge the government to do more to sensitize the people of Plateau State about its proposed ranching policy, as only through so doing can misconceptions be mitigated.
“We seize this opportunity to appeal to the Federal Government to expedite action and consider the creation of State Police to enhance the capacity of governors to effectively carry out their activities as Chief Security Officers to serve the purpose of government in the place of protection of lives and properties.
“We also appeal to the State government to look at the limitations of the Operation Rainbow, and as a matter of urgency remove those limitations and empower them to carry out their functions effectively.
“We also plead with mischief makers whose stock in trade is peddling falsehoods, propaganda and sensationalism to desist from their nefarious activities and turn a new leaf. This is because only through sincerity of purpose and a genuine commitment to the Plateau project can we build the Plateau of our dreams.
“We also appreciate the continuous support of non state actors such as the Civil Society Organizations, religious bodies, the community and cultural associations in advancing the post conflict peace process on the Plateau”.
