File: Herdsmen

Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) on Sunday held a meeting with the national leadership of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN) to find lasting solutions to herders/farmers clash across the country.

The meeting, which was held in Sokoto, had in attendance NSGF Chairman, Gov. Kashim Shettima of Borno, Gov. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto, Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano and Gov. Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna.

Sokoto State governor’s spokesman, Malam Imam Imam, said the meeting discussed genesis of the crisis, efforts to contain it and how to find permanent solutions.

In his opening remarks, Gov Shettima said the 19 northern states were worried by the rising cases of insecurity involving herders and farmers.

Shettima expressed optimism that the intervention of the NSGF would help to end the clashes.

He said the forum intervened to complement the efforts of the Federal Government, and hoped that it would adopt local-conflict resolution mechanisms to bring back trust and understanding among all the peoples of the region.

“We have seen enough crises in the North-East with Boko Haram. We cannot afford to let any other conflict linger without a solution.

“We hope to hear from all sides and finally come up with a workable plan that will restore confidence and entrench lasting peace in our region,” he added.

Outlining the position of MACBAN, its National President, Muhammed Kirowa, told the meeting that the approach to conflict resolution adopted by political leaders in some states was not helpful.

“Political leaders, especially governors, should approach issues of peace from neutral a perspective, not as a biased party.

“Our members have lived in many of these conflict-prone communities for centuries without conflicts; we wonder why is the situation getting out of hand now,” he said.

The News agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered that more discussions between the two groups will take place in Abuja, Jos, Makurdi and Kaduna soon.