Keeping livestock off FCT
WHEN the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, was sworn in, in August 2023, he vowed to ensure that herdsmen no longer lead their livestock to graze inside the municipal precincts of Abuja.
But the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, MAKH, through its National Secretary, Saleh Hassan Kubah, derided the Minister with an insolent reply. According to media reports, Kubah said: “The thing is, Wike is not consequential…so we don’t want to engage Wike who has to take Ogogoro (native gin) before he goes to the office every morning”.
Kubah also pointed out that the cattle that are found inside Abuja belong to “the elite there”. This is obviously the reason that efforts in the past to stop the menace did not succeed. For instance, when Senator Dino Melaye was made the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the FCT, he reacted to the menace of cattle presence in the city centres by urging the FCT Minister to slaughter any found there.https://live.primis-amp.tech/content/video/amp/videoIframe.php?s=114290#amp=1
Besides, the immediate past FCT Minister, Mohammed Bello, had also held several consultative meetings with the representatives of the livestock herders which eventually came to naught.
A further insight as to why the efforts to rid Abuja City of livestock came from the spokesman of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board, AEPB, Muktar Ibrahim, who asserted that there was “no written law” banning open grazing in Abuja.
The very temerity of an official of an agency charged with keeping Abuja clean turning around to justify the dangerous and primitive practice speaks volumes. It shows that due to the narrow interests of a few fat cats, there is institutional lack of resolve to end the hazard.
Some of these so-called “elite” are serving and retired members of the armed forces, police, security agencies, top bureaucrats, politicians and religious leaders. These are people who are well-placed to acquire ranches and provide improved and more profitable livestock products. So, in many ways, the MAKH scribe was correct in telling Wike to “deal with” his fellow elite members who are the powers behind the boldness of Miyetti Allah.
We believe that the perils posed by the presence of cattle in Abuja and elsewhere in our country can be stopped. Nobody is above the law. If Wike is given adequate presidential support and the livestock owners are compelled to put them away in ranches or face the consequences, the problem can be solved.
Wike should do more than merely chasing after the herdsmen foot soldiers of the powerful elite.
Livestock grazing in Abuja city is a great eyesore. They ooze ugly smells, eat up ornamental grasses, plants and flowers used to beautify our nation’s capital. They disrupt traffic and often cause accidents. They can transmit diseases.
We support Wike to get them out.
