APC chieftain, Bola Tinubu has stated that the clashes between farmers and herdsmen, which has resulted in loss of lives and properties, is caused by scarcity of water.
Tinubu made this known at a national summit on conflict resolution organised by the Nation and TV Continental, ‘Towards an Enduring Peace.’ According to the former governor of Lagos State, the herdsmen have been forced to move down South due to the unavailability of water caused by the desertification of the North, has forced them to move down South which has enough water and pasture.
Represented at the event by Sunday Dare, one of the Executive Commissioner of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Tinubu said, “The government must help herders gradually shift from their traditional nomadic existence to a more static lifestyle.
We have to face the reality that modernity is making the nomadic way counterproductive and inefficient.
Unoccupied, isolated land can quickly be turned into grazing areas in the affected states.
In the long run, this will enable herders to better maintain their livestock and thus their own livelihood.
“An acutely thirsty man remembers neither Bible nor Quran very well until his thirst is quenched.
Dire need often pushes a man to behave as if bereft of compassion for a person in equally dire circumstance.
“No doubt the problem has exacerbated during the past decade.
We must assume climate change plays a role”.