The Nigeria Reconciliation and Stability Project, facilitated by the British Council has commenced an advocacy to foster lasting peace between farmers and herdsmen in Bayelsa.
The group in collaboration with the Bayelsa State Peace and Conflict Management Alliance decried what it described as the increasing spate of attacks by herdsmen across Nigeria.
The leader of the group, Mrs Elizabeth Egbe, told the News Agency of Nigeria on the sidelines of a meeting with farmers on Saturday in Yenagoa that there was need to find a lasting solution to the menace of the herdsmen.
Egbe said there was need to ensure that the persistent attacks by the herdsmen did not affect food security nationwide.
“Our move to checkmate attacks by herdsmen in communities in the state is necessary to ensure peaceful co-existence and promote the country’s vision of self-sufficiency in food.
“We have heard some incidents in some communities in Bayelsa like Biogbolo, Yenuzie-Epie, Okutukutu and Epie in Yenagoa Local Government Area of the state, where some farmers, especially women were attacked by herdsmen.
“We have had meetings with security agencies on the way forward. Right now, we are urging the government to provide a grazing field for Fulani herdsmen in the state.”
A farmer, Mrs Margret Samuel, suggested that a law should be enacted, banning cows from moving from place to place. A herdsman, Mr Suleman Abubakar, said that he had never encountered friction with farmers in Bayelsa.
“I do not know about any attack because my moving cow from place to place is not to find trouble.”
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