The recent ban on open grazing by southern governors has come under heavy attacks by the former Secretary General of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Mr Anthony Sani.
Speaking with the reporter, Sani said southern governors only succeeded in labelling all Fulani herders as criminals, noting that it is wrong to criminalise an entire ethnic group.
Said he: “Outright banning of open grazing presupposes that all herders engage in criminal activities. It is not correct to criminalise a whole occupation or ethnic group for the sins of few of their members.
“More distressing is absence of provision for a viable alternative that is practicable at this point in time.
“As far as many of us are concerned, outright banning of open grazing at a time when the majority of the landless herders do not have the wherewithal to establish and manage the modern ranches for performance, is not practicable without the support of governments that are reeling from paucity of funds.
“To some of us, outright banning of open grazing without viable alternative is the same as asking our subsistent farmers to abandon subsistent farming with hoes and cutlasses in favour of modern farming and fence all their farms at a time the subsistent farmers do not have the wherewithal needed for modern farming.
“As an old pharmacist, I recall a time when sale of fake drugs killed thousands of Nigerians. But because the criminal elements were few in the business of sales of drugs, the nation did not criminalize pharmacy practices and sale of drugs but went as far as efforts could go to tame the sales of fake drugs. The rest, they say, is history.