current overdependence on oil and gas revenue to a diversified economy where all federating units are encouraged to develop their abundant natural and human resources for regional and national development.
“The federating units shall remit an agreed percentage of their revenue to the federation account.”
The Summit drew the attention of the Federal Government to the fact that Nigeria was a secular state in which the government could not adopt any religion as a state religion.
“Therefore, we ask the Federal Government to immediately review the discriminatory appointments into key offices of government and public service and comply with Section 14 of the 1999 Constitution,” the group stated.
In addition, the regional leaders said the recent plans to adopt a combined syllabus of religious and moral education should be scrapped immediately and a return to status quo maintained.
“State governments are also called upon to outlaw open grazing in favour of organised ranching,” the group said, just as it condemned the Arewa youths’ quit order to the Igbo living in the North.
It is not in good faith – MACBAN
The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, however, said the decision by the Southern and Middle Belt leaders to stop herdsmen from open grazing was not done in good faith.
Speaking to one of our correspondents on the telephone, the National Secretary, MACBAN, Baba Usman Ngelzarma, said the move was ill-advised.
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“I don’t honestly think this move is (made in good faith). The herdsmen are equally citizens of this country and by going round with their cows, they are looking for grass and water, which is pushing them out of the North to other parts. But these people used to open grazing; that is what they know. That was what they saw their forefathers do.
“These herdsmen are mostly uneducated and don’t know what ranching is all about, even though ranching is not a bad idea at all. We are talking of a population of about 30 million herdsmen in the country, and they contribute to the overall wealth of the country.
“Even in developed societies where cows are used for economic purposes and kept in ranches, they still have some grazing areas for cows to feed.”
Similarly, the Secretary General of the Arewa Consultative Forum, Mr. Anthony Sani, suggested that government did not have money to build ranches, and called on the Southern and Middle Belt leaders to give government information on criminal herdsmen.
“If they think that Boko Haram is using Fulani herdsmen and they have the information, they should help the government.
“Does government have money to build ranches? They are talking about ranches as if it is one naira. Our agriculture is too agrarian. Is it possible to single out the Fulani and modernise their occupation through ranches? We think it is very easy to take only livestock and modernise it.”
