By Mohammed Aminu in Sokoto
The Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) has held a meeting with the leadership and state chapters of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association as part of efforts to find lasting solutions to the continued clashes between herders and farmers across the federation.
The meeting, which was held in Sokoto, had in attendance NSGF Chairman and Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima, host Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and their counterparts from Kano (Abdullahi Ganduje), and Kaduna, Nasir el-Rufai. El-Rufai joined the meeting after it started.
Though no formal communique was issued at the end of the meeting, reports indicated that the gathering discussed the genesis of the crisis, efforts to contain it and how to entrench permanent solution.
In his opening remarks, Shettima said the 19 northern states were worried by the rising cases of insecurity involving herdsmen and farmers, and expressed optimism that their intervention would help in finding a lasting solution to the conflicts. He said they are intervening in order to complement the efforts of the federal government.
According to him, they hope to adopt local-conflict resolution mechanism to bring back trust and understanding among all the people of the region.
Details later…
