Jigawa orders arrest of cattle grazing at night

The Jigawa State Government on Tuesday in Dutse ordered for the arrest of any cattle seen grazing at night.
The State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Hadejia, gave the order at a farmers/pastoralists stakeholders meeting organised by the Jigawa Police Command.
Hadejia explained that the law on grazing barred herdsmen from grazing at night or using under-aged children to control their cattle.
He said that most of the clashes recorded in the state were as a result of night grazing and encroachment into farmlands.
The deputy governor directed the police and the farmers/pastoralists board to henceforth confiscate cows seen grazing at night or encroaching into farmlands and sell them to compensate the victims.
Hadejia said: “It is unfair that what a farmer used four to five months to cultivate, get destroyed within 30 minutes.
“For instance, one hectare of rice farm now costs N1 million and it won’t be good for such to be destroyed in a jiffy.”
Hadejia also cautioned farmers not to encroach on grazing reserves in the state, adding that government had established several grazing reserves and gazetted 57 of them.
According to him, farmers and herdsmen clashes were the greatest challenge in the state and the present administration was committed to providing lasting solutions.
The Commissioner of Police, Momoh Umar, said that night grazig, encroachment into cattle routes by farmers and unabated movement of pastoralists from neighbouring countries were the main causes of clashes.
Umar said that the police would work with other security agencies in the state to resolve the problem.