{"id":397267,"date":"2018-02-01T16:40:20","date_gmt":"2018-02-01T16:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=397267"},"modified":"2018-02-01T16:41:46","modified_gmt":"2018-02-01T16:41:46","slug":"cttee-to-tour-west-africa-for-solutions-to-herdsmen-farmer-tensions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2018\/02\/cttee-to-tour-west-africa-for-solutions-to-herdsmen-farmer-tensions\/","title":{"rendered":"C’ttee to tour West Africa for solutions to herdsmen-farmer tensions"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Defence and Interior Committee of Parliament is seeking the approval of the house to embark on a fact-finding mission to three countries in the West African sub-region in a bid to find a solution\u00a0to the conflict between nomadic herdsmen and farmers.<\/p>\n
The Chairman of the Committee, Seth Akyeampong, said the initial research done by the Committee indicated that, the negative activities of nomadic herdsmen were widespread.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”VB8RA1uP9gQMXieLogWjbYE5zIWDLPGo”]Thus, there was the need to study how other countries had dealt with the challenge.<\/p>\n
Mr. Akyeampong said memos were already before the Majority Secretariat awaiting for approval for the fact-finding visits to the three countries, namely; Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Cote d\u2019Ivoire.<\/p>\n
Delivering his report on the fallout from tensions between farmers and nomadic herdsmen referred to the Committee by the Speaker of Parliament, the Mpraeso MP said, if approved, an eight-man team would travel for the mission.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn consultation with leadership, it became evident that the Committee would have to step out of our boundaries and go to countries like Cote d\u2019Ivoire, which is equally going through a similar problem, Burkina Faso, who are equally going through the same problem and Nigeria, who are also going through the same problem,\u201d he said on the floor of Parliament.”<\/p>\n
“We will bring the full complement of our observations and findings from there to add up to the initial work we did with the sector minister,\u201d Mr. Akyeampong added.<\/p>\n
The causes of tensions between farmers and nomadic\u00a0herdsmen are seen to be essentially the same across the sub-region.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The disagreements are always over the use of farmland, grazing areas and water between herders and local farmers.<\/p>\n
The herders have consistently\u00a0clashed with farmers who accuse them of damaging their crops and failing to control their animals.<\/p>\n
But the casualties are significantly higher in Nigeria, where more than 1, 200 people were killed in 2014 by different groups of Fulani herders, according to the\u00a0Global Terrorism Index<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n A mass burial for over 70 people was held in Nigeria’s central Benue State in January 2018.<\/p>\n Since the New Year,\u00a0 more than 100 deaths have been reported in Benue and Taraba states, according to reports in Nigeria.<\/p>\n Fighting has been particularly heavy in Benue state, where 80 people have been killed and 80,000 displaced.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Duke Mensah Opoku\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Defence and Interior Committee of Parliament is seeking the approval of the house to embark on a fact-finding mission to three countries in the West African sub-region in a bid to find a solution\u00a0to the conflict between nomadic herdsmen and farmers. The Chairman of the Committee, Seth Akyeampong, said the initial research done by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":395269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,11],"tags":[1785,3,270],"yoast_head":"\n