By; ISAAC ODEH, Kaduna
As a part of the ongoing grassroots engagement to foster peaceful coexistence in the Jaba Local Government area of Kaduna State, the chairperson in charge of the council, Hon. Mrs. Nita Byack George, said that she is leaving no stone unturned to ensure a harmonious relationship between the farmers and herders in the area.
Nita who is the only female among the 23 local government chairmen, had in 2022, set up an inclusive Farmers and Herders Committee comprising of security agencies, traditional leaders, Fulani Ardos, religious leaders, and other prime movers in the local council, to come up with modalities to amicably resolving farmer and herders persistent clash under her political jurisdiction.
After several engagements, the committee resolved to develop a guideline that punishes offenders and rewards the victims of deliberate farm destruction and animal poisoning.
For example, the guideline stipulated that there would be no more child herding to avoid cows straying onto people’s farms, only the adults would lead their animals about so they could be responsible when necessary. In addition, there would be no grazing after 7pm.
That farmers in the council made a commitment to protect the animals and the herders, while the resident herders also made a commitment to protect the farmland against migrating herders and their animals who are not resident in the Council.
Should a herder allow his cattle to stray and destroy any farms, he will pay a fine. First-time offenders would pay N200,000, second-time offenders would pay N500,00 – all into the government coffers and at the same time, look into compensation of that farmer.
In the same vein, if a farmer deliberately poisons his agricultural waste or crop residue knowing that animals may eat such or hurt any cow, he would also pay N200,000 as a first-time offender and N500,000 as a second offender.
Speaking more on her efforts to maintain peaceful coexistence under her watch, Hon. Nita restated, “We set up the Herders/Farmers Committee of Jaba Local Government to make sure the people of the council especially live peaceably with one another.
“The committee which is made up of security agencies, religious bodies, the Fulani Ardos, and district heads sat and came up with certain agreements to facilitate the peaceful coexistence of herders and farmers in Jaba being the most peaceful local government in the state. So we don’t want anything to jeopardize that status.
“Now that farming activities are in top gear with continuous dwindling of land for grazing, these stakeholders have to rise to implement the agreement they willingly signed.
“We knew that peace is what our Governor, His Excellency, Sen. Uba Sani wants to enable him to govern well. So, we at the grassroots must understand his good intentions and do all we can at our level to help him realize that because it is when there is peace that we can talk about farming, herding, and development.
“So, his vision towards peaceful and developing Kaduna State is what we also focus on in this peace project which was why we took this meeting to the three districts and Fulani Rugas in the council.
“The good thing is that everyone received this peace message with joy because everyone wants peace.
“Already, we came up with a communique which shall be shared with district heads who will read its content to every farmer so we can all be on the same page. The Ardos of Fulani are also going to do the same thing on their side.
“What all these mean is that Jaba is working hard to ensure there is real-time peace between farmers and herders in addition to other community engagements we have been doing. Peace in Jaba is not negotiable especially now”, she reiterated.
