The Kwara State government has banned night cattle grazing in the state, as part of efforts to ensure greater peace between farmers and herdsmen and all members of the society.
This was part of the resolutions adopted at the expanded State Security Committee Meeting which held on Tuesday in Ilorin, the state capital.
Earlier before the meeting went into a closed-door session, the state governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, explained that the move was adopted to minimise conflicts between farmers and herdsmen.
The governor said it was also targeted at improving efforts to identify, apprehend and prosecute those suspected of destroying herders’ cattle or farmlands and crops, especially in view of the impending farming season.
He added that the meeting was convened to review and strengthen the current security situation in the state, with regard to farmers and herdsmen.
Governor Ahmed further stressed the need to improve the state’s security to prevent the occurrence of clashes between farmers and herdsmen that have led to deaths of several innocent citizens in some parts of the country.
The meeting which lasted for about three hours was attended by heads of security agencies, chairpersons of the 16 local government councils, traditional rulers as well as representatives of farmers and the Miyetti Allah Cattle Rearers Association of Nigeria in the state.
Briefing reporters at Government House, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media, Dr Muideen Akorede, said the meeting resolved that night grazing would no longer be allowed in the state.
He added that all security agencies in the state were also enjoined to approach any fraction between suspected herdsmen and farmers as an issue of the law without criminalising any group of people.
According to the governor’s aide, the meeting also advocated the adoption of community policing across local councils in the state to ensure vigilance and information sharing by all residents to forestall any acts of criminality.
He said the meeting agreed that no group should be allowed to make any incursions into any of the communities in the state, without appropriate profiling in terms of bringing a letter from their former community to respective community traditional rulers for identification before they can be allowed to settle in any part of the state.
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