SAN FRANCISCO, September 12, (THEWILL) – The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, on Tuesday stated that the lingering clashes between herdsmen and farmers across the country have no religious undertone.
Speaking in Abuja at the opening ceremony of the National Conference on the Transformation of Nigerian Livestock Industry, he charged participants to come up with creative approaches that would yield permanent solution to the crisis.
The Vice President, who was represented by Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, said government is determined to engender an ecosystem where the herdsman and farmer can live harmoniously, devoid of clashes and killings.
“Our desire is we must sit together and actually solve our problem; quarrels, anger, abuses can’t solve it; they only worsen the matter. There is no point calling names; people read different meanings to the herdsmen conflict with farmers.
“Some people read religious, some read politics while some read ethnicity. It’s not exactly true; we’ve done a lot of research. And if I may say something here, I will shock many of you; a lot of herdsmen have never entered the mosque. So, it’s not true that they are agents of religion. The problem had arisen because, as a country, for too long, we paid no attention to this sector.
“Some have been asking the question, why are you taking this issue so serious, after all, keeping cattle is a private business. But, it’s not as private as it looks,” Osinbajo said.
