Nasarawa/Benue move to end Fulani/farmers border clashes

DETERMINED to put a permanent stop to incessant clashes between Fulani herdsmen and farmers in Nasarawa and Benue State officials of the two states have held a joint high-level security meeting with a view to finding an amicable solution to the crisis. Disclosing this to State House correspondents in Abuja after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Aso Rock yesterday, Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa said he the meeting, the first time such high-level meetings would be taking place between the two states officials hoped that by soon cases of such clashes would be dealt with permanently.

He said, “Yesterday, (Thursday) we had a very successful outing with my colleague from Benue State. You must be aware if the recent clashes within the Nasarawa /Benue border which took places between farmers and herdsmen. We have realized that unless we come together and articulate ways and means if getting this Orioles solved, they will continue to disturb us. “So yesterday, (Thursday) a whole team from Benue State led by the governor of Benue, Dr. Samuel Ortom and myself and team sat down and had very useful discussion where we were able to identify those issues that were creating communal clashes along the borders between Fulanis and farmers.

The governor believed that such meeting would help address issues that heave been generating crisis noting that he had come to brief the President on efforts so far made. Some of the decisions reached included setting up committees that would ‎involve and work across the two states to ensure that the solutions preferred were implemented. He said Buhari would soon commission the ultra-modern Karu International Market in Nasarawa State being completed to boost the revenue base of the state government as an alternative to the dwindling oil resources in the country.

The governor, who met with Buhari yesterday at the Presidential Villa, said the dwindling allocations from the federal coffers underscored the imperative of putting to use the market, which has been almost perpetually under construction. He noted that as a result of the dwindling resources to the states following the fall in oil prices focus is also being‎ shifted to agriculture and other viable commercial ventures as Nasarawa boasts of tremendous resources for alternative sources of revenue. The proximity of the 3,000-shop market to the federal capital territory, Abuja makes it commercially viable, noted the Al-Makura who listed the project as one on his priority list.

He spoke on the recent Supreme Court judgment, which affirmed him as duly elected governor of Nasarawa State, saying that it was no surprise since he won the election fair and square. According to him, his main challenger in the election, Labaran Maku, and ‎his party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), were not popular in the state and couldn’t have won. He said the single case of confirmed Lassa fever in Nasarawa State was being handled professionally as the patient was receiving adequate treatment in quarantine, while sensitisation is ongoin to enlighten the peple of preventive measures and signs to watch out for.