Senate passes law on Fulani, farmers’ conflict

Senate yesterday passed for second reading, a law that would bring an end to conflict between Fu­lani herdsmen and farmers that had resulted into loss of lives and property across the country.
The new law was con­tained in a bill for an act to establish the National Agency for the Great Green Wall for the implementation of the Great Green wall Programme in the country and for Related Matters 2015. Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, spon­sored the bill.

When finally passed into law, the bill would also sup­port communities to adapt to climate change.
Leading debate on the bill, Ndoma-Egba explained that passage of the bill would ad­dress land degradation and desertification in the Sahara and Sahel regions, enhance food security and support communities to adapt to cli­mate change.
Stating the importance of the bill, Ndoma-Egba said: “The bill will help address degradation and desertifica­tion in the Sahara and Sahel regions, enhance food pro­duction, reduce poverty, mi­nimise social conflict between pastoralists and farmers with the attendant loss of lives and property, which has become quite pervasive of recent, par­ticularly in parts of Benue, Nassarawa and Plateau states.
“It will also support com­munities to adapt to climate change.”
The new law, it was gath­ered, would also seek to es­tablish the national agency for the Great Wall for the imple­mentation of the provision of the convention on the Great Wall programme in the coun­try, management of drought, desertification and afforesta­tion control measures and re­lated matters.