The seven-man committee set up by the Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki in each of the state’s 18 Local Government Areas to check clashes between herdsmen and farmers, have commenced sitting.
Members of each committee include the council chairman, Divisional Police Officers (DPOs), representative of the Directorate of State Security Service, two representatives of the Hausa/Fulani Community, and two representatives among local farmers.
The committee in Owan West Local Government Area convened a meeting at the weekend, presided over by the council chairman, Hon. Frank Ilaboya.
Held at the council secretariat in Sabongida-Ora, the meeting was hailed as a novel avenue to address clashes between the host communities and the Hausa/Fulani groups in the local council.
Some of the resolutions reached at the meeting include the setting up a mechanism to register new herdsmen into any community within the local government area, the report of which should be submitted to the committee. The report will include information on incidents of clashes between herdsmen and farmers. The report is to be transmitted to a similar committee set up by the governor at the state level.
Representatives of the Fulani community, at the meeting, agreed to commence biometric registration for their members in the local government area.
Recall that Governor Godwin Obaseki in a parley with national leaders of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria and heads of security agencies in Benin City, maintained that the ban on night-grazing stands, and approved a 40-day window request by the group to allow new members in their midst register with the state government.
The governor also disclosed that the state government has put structures in place to check herdsmen/farmers clashes in the state.
According to him, the structures will ensure proper identification of herders in the state, while sensitisation programmes will be organised for them.
