Abdulrahman Dambazau: Minister of interior

Nigeria’s Minister of Interior, Lt. general Abdulrahman Dambazau has suggested that there may be a Boko Haram and criminal gang angles to the  frequent clashes between herdsmen and farmers across the country .

He said in Abuja  at the opening ceremony of a stakeholders’ meeting on  pastoralists/sedentary farmers’ conflict in Nigeria that Boko Haram may be hiding under the guise of the crisis to terrorize Nigerians.

“Indications are that there are opportunistic criminal angles to the conflict in the nature of cattle-rustling, armed robbery and kidnapping,” he said.

The minister said the conflict occurs mostly in the Niger-Benue River Basin area, and spreads to the South-east and Western Nigeria.

He described the farmers/herders’ conflict as among issues of grave implication to Nigeria’s internal security, saying the primary objective of the meeting was to understand the problems underlying the conflict and develop strategies to curb it.

According to Dambazau, the Federal Government is exploring the implementation of a definitive policy that will involve all stakeholders and security agents to tackle the lingering herdsmen/ farmers clashes in the country.

The minister, who decried the lingering crises  warned that the crises was capable of tearing the corporate existence of Nigeria, if not dealt with decisively.

A herds boy fully armed: could he be a Boko Haram member?

“The effect of this conflict has been loss of life, dislocation of people and communities, and the disruption of socio economic activity,

“Even more importantly, it is a threat to the integrity and peaceful coexistence of the Nigerian state.

“The objective therefore is to identify any laws and regulations that impact on the conflict, this will in turn inform the design of a definitive policy intervention,’’ he said.

Dambazau said that the stakeholders’ meeting was convened by the Ministry of Interior to find a lasting solution to the problem in view of its effect on internal security of the country.

He said that the meeting would look into recommendations of past committee reports on the issue, security investigations and deliberate on new strategy to address the menace.

“There have been a number of committees and think-tank type investigations into the conflict in the past,

“It is the intention of the ministry of interior to gather these together and note which have been implemented, highlighting the effects and failures of each in order to arrive at narrative and doctrinal certainties,’’ he said.

The minister said that in spite of the fact that conflict was prevalent in the North central region of the country; issues such as herdsmen migrating from outside the country would also be looked into in view of the security threats.

He charged participants at the meeting to be professional and fashion out implementable solutions to the problem.

Mr Bassey Ekpenyong, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of interior said that the nation had lost too many lives due to the senseless killings as a result of the clashes.

He urged participants at the meeting to set the right framework as the meeting would be a prelude to a bigger stakeholders meeting that would involve the farmers and herdsmen directly involved in the crises.

The one day stakeholders meeting was attended by officials from the Ministry of Defence, Nigeria immigration Service (NIS), Police, Civil Defence and office of the National Security Adviser (NSA).

Others are officials from the Ministry of Agric, Water Resources, Boundary Commission, National human Rights Commission and the National Orientation Agency (NOA).