The Manager of Yobe Pilot Livestock Development Programme, Dr Mustapha Gaidam, has called for intensive sensitisation and mobilisation of stakeholders before the enforcement of the ban on open grazing.
Open grazing
Mustapha gave this advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday, January 16, 2018 in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital.
“There is the absolute need for dialogue, intensive education, sensitisation and mobilisation for both crop and livestock farmers to appreciate the advantages.
“So far, the anti-open grazing law enacted by Benue, Taraba, Ekiti and Edo states has failed to serve the purposes for which it was established, considering the unfortunate incidences in Benue and Taraba.
“The law was intended to provide solution to farmers/grazers conflicts but unfortunately, the two groups have lost many lives and property,” he said.
Mustapha suggested that the provisions of the 1999 Constitution and the ECOWAS protocol must be considered in the formulation and implementation of any laws including the anti-open grazing law.
The manager argued that civil and traditional authorities must work towards establishing mutual trust and mutual agreement among stakeholders on systematic and gradual enforcement of the anti-open grazing law in the states contemplating the idea.
He expressed fear that the rising tension between farmers and herders in the affected states of the federation will soon translate into low crop and livestock farming activities in the country with threat to food and protein security.
Mustapha also described the demarcation and protection of stock routes as“ imperative” to facilitate movement of cattle across the country, provision of health facilities and water points to avert encroachment on farmlands by the animals.
He explained that cattle-ranching has many advantages to both herders and farmers considering the peculiarities of the occupation of the two groups.
“In Yobe, we enjoy a very long peaceful co-existence between farmers and cattle breeders because government has provided incentives to livestock farmers just as it subsidises fertiliser and other inputs to farmers.
“Government has also demarcated over 1,500 kilometres of cattle routes, provided water points, mass vaccination of animals and food supplement among others and there was no conflict for close to 10 years now,” Mustapha said.
A five-member jury drawn by the Dubai Award Secretariat as well as the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) on Monday, January 15, 2018 began the evaluation process for the 11th cycle of the Dubai International Award for Best Practices. The Jury will select a final 10 winners from the 110 projects which qualified to this stage from the Technical Advisory Committee evaluation process also held in Dubai on October 30 to November 3, 2017. A total of 89 countries and territories submitted entries for this prestigious award.
Dubai
The Dubai International Award for Best Practices recognises significant contributions and innovations aligned with key New Urban Agenda themes of National Urban Policy, Participatory Slum Upgrading, Monitoring Mechanisms, Urban Redevelopment, Urban Planning and Design, Municipal Finance, Legislation as well as Rules and Regulations.
These practices will also:
Have a demonstrable and tangible impact on improving people’s quality of life;
Are the result of effective partnerships between the public, private and civic sectors of society; and,
Are socially, culturally, economically and environmentally sustainable.
In his welcome note, the Director General of Dubai Municipality, Mr. Mohammed Mutaiwei, thanked the jurors for their commitment and effort to conduct the final evaluation process of the submissions in a transparent manner, and the significance of these practices for the international community.
The Chief of the Best Practices Unit at UN-Habitat, Ms. Åsa Jonsson, highlighted the fact that member states, and all other UN-Habitat partners ranging from NGOs to academia, are in one way or another looking for best practices to inspire and help guide their work, even though they may carry different terms such as “best in class examples” or “case studies”. Similarly, people on panels, and making presentations all take pride in showcasing what is ultimately their – or their organisation’s – best practices.
“The importance of the Award is to recognise and disseminate such best practices from multiple sectors – to help guide and feed into policies and programmes,” she added.
According to the organisers, the initiatives are examples of how the global community is working to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda while spreading inspiration to encourage others.
“Through this award, we are able to recognise and document these initiatives in order to make them known to the world. Since 1996, we have had over 100 award winners whose projects have had a positive impact on improving the living environment.”
Jury Evaluation Process
Behind closed doors, the jury members closely review, discuss and evaluate the entry submissions according to their professional expertise and the evaluation criteria for the seven categories. On the final day, the jurors will determine which entries will be awarded based on impact, partnership, sustainability, leadership and community empowerment, gender equality and social inclusion, innovation within local context, and transferability, alongside the specific criteria for each category.
Five jurors from different countries were selected based on their area of expertise and their understanding of the categories. The evaluation process, it was gathered, will be done in a fair, transparent and independent manner.
The FADAMA III Additional Financing (AF) Programme in Niger State says it has spent N437 million on constructing a road and rehabilitating two dams in three local government areas of the state.
Dr Adetunji Oredipe, World Bank Task Team Leader for the FADAMA III Programme
Alhaji Baba Shaba, the Communication Officer of FADAMA III (AF) Programme in the state, made this known in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna, the state capital, on Tuesday, January 16, 2018.
He said that N270 million was spent on the nine-kilometre road in Edozhigi community of Gbako Local Government Area to facilitate the efforts of farmers to transport their produce to the markets.
“The newly constructed road covers about nine kilometres and each kilometre costs N30 million. This road is very important to farmers in the area, particularly because we are encouraging them to adopt all-year round farming.
“The irrigation dam is located along the road, hence the need to construct the road to make the dams accessible to the farmers,’’ he said.
Shaba appealed to farmers in the area to take due advantage of the road to increase their productivity, while shunning middlemen who were always interested in buying their crops at giveaway prices.
In a related development, the communication officer said that the FADAMA III (AF) programme had rehabilitated an irrigation dam in Edu, Lapai Local Government Area at the cost of N70 million.
Besides, Shaba said that N97 million was spent on construction of an irrigation dam in Loguma, Agaie Local Government Area of the state.
He said that the rehabilitation and construction of the irrigation dams were aimed at facilitating the efforts of the farmers to engage in dry-season farming and boost food security in the country.
As part of its goal to see a generational shift in agriculture on the continent, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has taken its “Farming is Cool” initiative to school children in Nigeria.
Youths involved in farming. Photo credit: smeonline.biz
The Bank has also launched a Junior Art Contest in Nigeria to promote the potential of agriculture to secondary school children.
Africa is hoping to feed itself and to eradicate malnutrition by 2025, but the average age of farmers on the continent is currently 60 years.
The President of the AfDB, Akinwumi Adesina, will present prizes to the three winners from the month-long contest at the commissioning of the Nigeria office building on Thursday, January 18, 2018 in Abuja. The winners will receive partial scholarships of N1 million, N500,000 and N250,000 as first, second and third place prizes, respectively.
“The art competition was conducted to sow a seed of awareness in young minds of the significance and potential of agriculture in the development of a nation’s economy. The ‘Farming is Cool’ campaign strives to flip the script on farming as a last resort by emphasising and promoting it as a viable wealth-creation option,” said Ebrima Faal, Senior Director of the Nigeria Country Department at the AfDB. “It targets youth and children to encourage positive thought and action towards an agricultural revolution.”
The Bank is accelerating agricultural development through its Feed Africa Strategy with planned investment of $24 billion over the next 10 years.
The goals of the Bank’s Feed Africa strategy are to help eliminate extreme poverty in Africa by 2025; end hunger and malnutrition in Africa by 2025; make Africa a net food exporter; and, move Africa to the top of export-orientated global value chains where it has comparative advantage.
Feed Africa includes include agricultural finance models that will benefit youth, as well as other groups; it will rely on the Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy to increase the representation of youth in agriculture and agribusiness and equip them with the necessary skills to be successful.
Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, will commission the new office complex of the AfDB in Abuja on January 18, 2018, consolidating the country’s position as the Bank’s largest shareholder.
The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has written President Muhammed Buhari on the need to enshrine water as a human right in the Nigerian Constitution.
Suleiman Adamu Kazaure, Water Resources Minister
ERA/FoEN is asking President Buhari to throw his weight behind demands by civil society and other groups for democratically-controlled water systems that guarantee universal access to all Nigerians irrespective of their status.
The letter was also copied to the offices of the vice-president, Professor Yemi Osinbanjo, and the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Hussein Adamu.
The group said that while the Buhari administration has taken a right step in the ongoing technical audit of all projects in the water sector, decades of reliance on donor-funded water projects have pushed behind the human right to water and projected instead, privatisation in all forms including Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) that leave out the larger segment of Nigerians who yearn for unfettered access to portable and safe water.
The group frowned at the World Bank and private water industry it accused of being behind the growing proposals for water privatisation or PPP plan in many states, particularly in Lagos where the Lagos State Water Corporation (LWC), is pushing very hard for a dangerous privatisation of water under a PPP model that has failed in other parts of the world.
According to the ERA/FoEN, such failures have been recorded in Manila in the Philippines whereas part-owner of water corporations that win PPP contracts, the World Bank positioned itself to profit from this model, as well as Nagpur in India, Paris, Jakarta and Dar Es Salaam, among others that have experimented with PPPs but had to roll back to remuncipalisation.
The text of the letter said: “PPPs do not bring the benefits that are being mouthed by the promoters but rather it leads to hike in prices, job losses, lower quality, unfulfilled infrastructure promises and shut offs for those who cannot pay.”
Aside enshrining the human right to water in the Nigerian constitution, the group recommended that the administration should reject all forms of water privatisation and commodification and fully uphold the human right to water as an obligation of the government, representing the people.
It demanded the integration of broad public participation in developing plans to achieve universal access to clean water; rejection of contracts designed by, involving, or influenced by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and asked that state governments disclose all discussion and contracts regarding water, including formal and informal advisory roles with IFC and World Bank. The letter also asked the Buhari administration to build the political will to prioritise water for the people to open the door to a comprehensive plan that invests in the water infrastructure necessary to provide universal water access, create jobs, improve public health, and invigorate the Nigerian economy.
Australia has issued an open call to scientists to help save the corals of the Great Barrier Reef with a $2 million challenge, an Environmentalist said on Tuesday, January 16, 2018.
In Australia’s Great Barrier Reef – the world’s largest coral reef system – rising water temperatures are causing coral bleaching, and ocean acidification is restricting coral growth and survival. Photo credit: telegraph.co.uk
A reef is a bar of rock, sand, coral or similar material, lying beneath the surface of water; it may go as deep as 261 feet (80m) below the surface.
According to Frydenberg, the Reef is the planet’s greatest living wonder.
“This is an open invitation to our greatest scientific minds, to develop innovative solutions which will protect corals and encourage the recovery of damaged reefs.
“The scale of the problem is big and big thinking is needed, but it’s important to remember that solutions can come from anywhere,’’ Frydenberg said.
Report says the Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest conglomerate of coral reefs, larger than Italy.
It is one of most bio-diverse ecosystems on the planet and home to millions of marine life-forms.
It is also a top tourist attraction in Australia, generating some $6.4 billion a year.
But rising ocean temperatures and environmental degradation have led to large-scale coral bleaching in the last two years.
Scientists have warned that unless more is done to address climate change, the Reef will be destroyed within our lifetime.
The government called for scientists to find novel solutions to restore reefs and boost coral abundance.
Frydenberg said solutions could focus on anything from reducing the exposure of corals to physical stressors, to coral regeneration by cultivating reef-building coral larvae.
“Proposals need to “be mindful of” the Aboriginal and indigenous communities, as well as other users like visitors, tourism operators, recreational and commercial fishers,’’ Queensland Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch said.
In 2017, the Australian government narrowly avoided having the Reef added to the UNESCO “in danger” list after promising to spend $2 billion to implement measures to protect and manage it.
Gov. Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe State has called on the people of the state to refrain from dumping refuse in drainage channels and waterways so as to avert flooding.
Gov. Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe State
Dankwambo made the call during an inspection visit to Dukku Motor Park new roundabout in Gombe on Monday, January 15, 2018.
He said that his administration was striving to address the problem of flooding in the state, hence the need for the citizens to support the efforts.
“I want to use this opportunity to call on residents to stop dumping refuse inside waterways, especially down east where the drainage system is narrow.
“For us to address the issue of flooding around these places, we need to pull down some houses, compensate the house owners and expand the channel.
“This will enable the large volume of water that comes from various sources to pass through the channel without any obstruction,” he said.
Besides, Dankwambo said that the areas that were recovered after the construction of the roundabout would be used for the construction of modern, beautiful shops to beautify the place.
The governor assured the people that the shops would be allocated to them whenever the construction was completed.
Dankwambo commended the officials of the Ministry of Works who supervised the contractors that executed the roundabout project for their quality service delivery.
As discussions about climate change and its effects across all spheres increase, there is an urgent need to refocus Nigeria’s approach to climate action. One of the plausible ways will be to ensure homes, companies and all stakeholders understand the meaning of “carbon footprint” and how they contribute to it.
The carbon footprint
Carbon footprint, simply put, is the amount of carbon dioxide that is emitted as a result of an individual’s daily activities; otherwise explained, your carbon footprint is the sum of all emissions of CO2 (carbon dioxide), which were induced by all your activities in a given time frame. Therefore, reduction of carbon footprint is largely dependent on making eco-friendly choices.
Individuals, groups and organisations should become increasingly conscious of the total set of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (carbon dioxide equivalent) caused by their actions.
Among many other actionable methods, here are five ways of reducing our carbon footprints and addressing climate change.
Be Energy Efficient (Use Safe Energy Options)
Among the 17 goals of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Goal 7 seeks to promote affordable and clean energy. In many African communities, availability is affordability. In some parts of Nigeria, to meet energy needs, indigenes use energy sources like candles, kerosene lamps and carbon-emitting lanterns. In more remote areas, people encroach on forest areas to harvest firewood without the slightest remorse for not replacing them.
While these practices cannot be overturned overnight, efficient use of these resources is advised. Wood dust and briquette are good alternatives that can increase wood usage efficiency and reduce the constant need for firewood to meet cooking needs.
In the urban area, due to the shortage (or absence) of power supplies, many households depend on fossil fuel to meet their energy needs not because it is the cheapest but the most available means.
Now those daily activities such as cooking using kerosene, firewood or methane gas for cooking, as well as, use of petrol or diesel for generators and cars surges the carbon footprint of an average Nigerian household, how can we act differently?
In this case, deliberate actions borne of knowledge can make the difference by:
Using energy saving bulbs and switching off electrical appliances when not in use
Use energy-efficient (rechargeable) appliances, such as torchlight, fan, inverters
For individuals and organisations that can afford to install solar energy inverters in their homes, this is the most enjoyable energy source void of noise, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide pollutions.
Dump Refuse Cautiously
An average taxi driver or passenger after drinking water from a sachet (nylon) or a plastic (bottle) will throw the flaccid cellophane or pet bottle carelessly to the street. I remember correcting one and his response was: “The government will clean it.” I smirked in disbelief because he seemed not to have an iota of guilt about his sordid action.
Solid wastes, especially non-compostable wastes, are sources of GHGs and when not well managed pose serious challenges to environmental and human health status in form of soil, air, and water pollution. Unfortunately, many of these materials (non-compostable waste) will outlive us as they are non-biodegradable. The best practice as an individual is to help minimise the level of pollution caused by solid waste by not disposing of indiscriminately, exactly what the #PickThatTrash campaign seeks to achieve.
By extension, some Nigerian entrepreneurs are already leveraging on the solid waste sector to create sustainable businesses through the 3R approach – Reduce, Recycle, Reuse – while encouraging citizens to turn waste to wealth through waste management and recycling.
More of this should be encouraged across the African continent if we truly will reduce our carbon footprints.
Reduce Air Travels / Avoid Road Traffic
Airplanes emit particles and gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), water vapor, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, lead, and black carbon which interact among themselves and with the atmosphere. Until petroleum-based aviation fuel is replaced, I strongly suggest we should avoid flying when possible, fly less frequently, fly shorter distances, and fly economy class.
The environmental impact of aviation occurs because aircraft engines emit heat, noise, particulates, and gases which contribute to climate change.
Road users should harness traffic updates – apps and radio programmes – to circumvent busy routes and find alternatives. Traffic not only wastes time but fuel and increases CO2 emission. Thanks to technological advancement, we have to the rescue, online meeting and conferencing tools options such as WhatsApp, go-to-meeting, Skype, Facetime, etc.
Act Intentional and Promote Eco-Friendliness
The solutions to many environmental issues inherent in Nigeria – and by extension, Africa – is a mind shift from poor environmental actions that were hitherto norms. No matter how insignificant your actions may appear, know that they either increase/decrease your carbon footprint. Here are some worthy of note:
Do not leave water running when brushing your teeth as such actions would increase energy needed for pumping water.
When installing irrigation for garden flowers, chose drip irrigation which supplies water directly to the roots over overhead irrigation.
Make water-efficient choices when purchasing showerheads, faucet heads, toilets, dishwashers and washing machines.
Embrace locally made products rather than shop abroad.
Tell Someone – Spread the News
Climate change is arguably the biggest threat facing our world at the moment. Perhaps this is a sentiment not everyone shares but the fact speaks for itself. In recent times the world has witnessed mudslide in Sierra Leone, drought in Kigali, flooding in Port Harcourt, desertification and famine in Northern Nigeria, melting glaciers, rising sea level, record-breaking hurricanes, torrential monsoon rains in the Caribbean, South Asia and the United States, habitat loss and species migration, among others.
No doubt, education is key to achieving the intended mind shift. A lot of people do not have adequate knowledge about climate change and its implication on our immediate environment. In the same vein, our general attitude towards the environment emphasises our expectations of the environment to self-heal no matter how poorly it is used.
Take it upon yourself today to educate yourself about climate change; educate someone who doesn’t know enough about it; teach children about it and gradually, SDG 13 (climate action) can be achieved by 2030.
By Ogunjobi Muyiwa (Environmental advocate; Port Harcourt, Nigeria)
By converting poultry waste into a power producing unit, Rije and Kuruji communities, both in the Kuje axis of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), appear to have blazed the trail for championing clean and green energy in Abuja, thanks to the Power Africa project.
Poultry farming
Playing host to over 1,200 indigenes who otherwise may not have access to the power supply from the national grid, Rije and Kuruji have Ajima Farms and the United States African Development Foundation (USADF) Power Africa Project to appreciate for installing a 30KVA waste-powered station recognised as “Biogas Mini-Grid Project.”
The Biogas Mini-Grid Project runs on agricultural waste, mainly from poultry farm. With a capacity of 30KVA – 20KVA in Riji community and 10KVA in Kuruji community – the facility currently provides power for 87 homes and companies many kilometers away from the main grid.
The project, constructed by Ajima Farms, through funding from the USADF Power Africa project in 2015, is maintained by trained youths in both communities, hence creating direct employment for 14 residents while the services of a dozen more are indirectly engaged.
Project director, Mr. Kabiru Ademoh, said: “Statistics reveal that a large percentage of the country is off-grid, estimated at 60%. Since getting this group of people to connect to the major grid is difficult, expensive and time-consuming, seeking alternatives energy sources aids development and ease the livelihood of people in a fast advancing world, hence, it should be keenly explored.”
In a bid to expand this novel project, Ajima Farms hopes to organise series of workshops and seminars on Waste2Watt to bring to the limelight more green energy innovative ideas, position start-ups for international visibility and change the psyche of people towards appreciating what would ordinarily be called “waste”.
This will inadvertently combat climate change and its adverse effects which the world’s attention is drastically shifting to, say the project promoters, adding that it serves as a clear pointer to drive some of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
By ‘Seyifunmi Adebote (Environmentalist and youth advocate; Abuja, Nigeria)
“If I were to remain silent, I would be guilty of complicity” – Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
“The fact that the southern Niger Republic is greener than parts of northern Nigeria should suggest to us that our approach to environmental management is defective” – Nnimmo Bassey (Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation – HOMEF).
Herdsmen
The above two quotations are apt for the real reason why this article was written. The first one was from the fertile mind of the late renowned 1921Nobel Prize Winner in Physics, German-born Albert Einstein, “a theoretical Physicist who developed the theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics.”(Wikipedia).
The second one was excerpted from an article in EnviroNews Nigeria (January 14, 2018). It is an omnibus online magazine that covers environmental, climate change, human settlement, sustainable development, water & sanitation, renewable energy, science, and technology issues in Nigeria and around the world. The said article titled: “Benue massacre: Ending the season of heady herders” was written by Nnimmo Bassey whose employment identity is disclosed above.
Be that as it may, this writer wants to draw the attention of readers to the ongoing national discourse in Nigeria on the proposed bill by the Federal Government to create cattle colonies throughout the states of the federation by invoking the “power of eminent domain” to acquire land in each state for the sole use by a few compatriots who are pastoralists (cattle rearers) from certain ethnic group, to the detriment of other compatriots who are mainly peasants engaged in subsistence farming as their means of livelihood.
Since the Federal Government intention was made public, the polity has been heated to the boiling point causing a barrage of caustic commentaries, vitriolic, diatribe, hate speeches, provocative newspaper articles, and TV discussions all laced with fury and ethnic or religious sentiments from both sides of the divide, that is the pro and con agitators who are for or against the idea being mooted by the Federal Government. Regrettably, it has caused violence traced to the Fulani herdsmen to escalate in some sections of the country.
Many innocent lives have been lost to the orgy of violence and drums of another civil war are being beaten by the aggrieved.
Benue State, in particular, was the major victim where scores of her indigenes were mercilessly massacred by the rampaging Fulani herdsmen. The social media is replete with gory and offensive pictures of women and children brutally macheted and decapitated. The ugly incident has been labeled “genocide” which means that we are slowly walking the road to Kigali, Rwanda, the consequence of which is better imagined than experienced.
How do we find ourselves in this avoidable and pitiable situation as a nation? Lethargy is number one reason. Two, we always indulge in playing the proverbial ostrich. Three, we often fail to plan and collaboratively plan to fail. This writer is an unrepentant critic of the government’s lackadaisical attitude to planning most especially environmental and physical planning, as pivotal as these two issues are. We constantly abuse the environment to the detriment of our health, the cities, regions and the country as a whole.
We set up a gamut of a lame duck and cueless institutional apparatus and regulatory bodies whose impacts are never felt by the citizenry regarding their functions and sundry responsibilities under their purview. Nnimmo Bassey was unequivocal about these shortcomings as encapsulated in the opening quote above and went further to indirectly intone that we leave leprosy (which is more harmful to human) to treat ringworm a less harmful disease. Put in simple word, bureaucracy is a national malaise. The Government lacks priority. It treats any matter of national urgency with tardiness and sometimes with levity until it snowballs to a national crisis. The herdsmen-farmers’ incessant crisis is a living and trending example.
It is a cumulative effect and abysmal failure of environmental management on the part of the Federal Government and lack of a land use inventory as a precursor to the preparation of national physical and environmental plans, which are long overdue in Nigeria. Quoting Bassey again, he said regarding our vegetative cover and water resources, “we tend to see our environment as capable of self-regeneration irrespective of how rabid our rate of consumption of Nature’s gifts to us…The result is the reality of desertification in northern Nigeria that we characterise as the downward march or spread of the Sahara Desert.” He added a poser, “if the desert were marching down so mercilessly, how come Niger Republic (a country closer to the Sahara Desert) has not gone completely under the sand?”
In the light of the debate about the perennial clashes between the herdsmen and local farmers around the country, I want to lend a voice rather than remain silent, to avoid being guilty of complicity as Albert Einstein opined. Albeit there have been series of suggestions on how to resolve the age-long national conflict, the rigid positions that are being taken by the various commentators and ethnic affiliates cannot and will never solve the problem. We need to be flexible and amenable to whatever position we take. First, the Federal Government approach needs to be reconsidered. Its use of the “power of eminent”( the power of Government to take private property and convert it to public use) is being wrongly applied in this case. There is no legal defense for the intended action of the government to take land from one group of people and hand it over to another set of people for personal business.
Pastoralism is a commercial business which anybody can engage in and not the exclusive business of a “particular ethnic nationalities nor region.” The cattle colonies are not for public use, which contradicts the letters of the eminent domain law. The Federal Government errs in law by robbing Peter (landowner-farmer) to pay Paul (the pastoralist) for the conduct of the latter’s private business.
In a Supreme Court landmark judgement in 2003 over a suit instituted by the Lagos State Government (LASG) against the Federal Government to determine which of the two governmental entities has the constitutional authority for planning, the apex court ruled in favour of LASG based on the premise that planning is a residual matter in the Nigerian constitution, which falls under the purview of the state. The Supreme Court ruled that the only area which the Federal Government could exert its power of authority on land use is within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) including Abuja, the nation’s capital city. The land within the FCT can be subjected to any use as the Federal Government pleases in cognisance of the territory’s master plan. In a nutshell, the Federal Government cannot be too overbearing in the use of its power contrary to what the supreme law(constitution) of the land allows.
Land is a platform for development. It is the prerogative of each state to determine what and how it wants to use the land under its jurisdiction for developmental purposes. The establishment of cattle colonies could be the priority of the Federal Government, whereas mechanised agriculture could be a state’s priority. The two choices have one thing in common: they are both consumers of huge land. The states would be reluctant to release a large chunk of land to outsiders for a venture where they cannot reap any benefit for the good of their indigenes. It is an injustice. Like the late American civil rights icon, Martin Luther King pontificated, “an injustice anywhere is a treat to justice everywhere.”
The short-term solution is more engagement and dialogue with all warring parties to douse the tension of more violence. Furthermore, the Federal Government should aggregate all shades of opinions and technical recommendations volunteered by professionals and choose the best options to ameliorate the looming crisis. The use of Federal might through the enactment of a protective law that unjustly favours one ethnic group against the others is a recipe for national anarchy.
By Yacoob Abiodun (Urban Planner, Planning Advocate, Hayward, California, USA)
