Northern Governors have demanded that the federal government should provide funding for the establishment of ranches across the region.
The Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum, Simon Lalong, while featuring on Channels Television’s News on Tuesday disclosed that the governors have been in support of ranching for quite some time.
Lalong, also noted that with the rise of banditry, which was linked to cattle rustling – and the recent quit notices being bandied across the country, ranching offers the “the only way to control the insecurity”.
Justifying the governors’ demand, he disclosed that the Plateau state government has readied 74,000 hectares for the ranching exercise but needs funding to develop the project.
“When you start restricting people, you must provide alternatives,” the governor submitted.
According to him, “We were advising the federal government to also give grants to states that are ready with land”.
“We are not saying that it is compulsory for states that are not ready. But many states in the North are ready.
“We need some grants to start so that these people will not be moving here and there. We need to also keep them in one place. It’s business. So definitely, that’s the only way to control the insecurity”, he added.
The Plateau state governor further disclosed that all stakeholders, including members of cattle herders associations across the country, were on board with the idea of ranching.
“But there is this lack of funds to the state, there is lack of encouragement to the state”.
