As the ultimatum for the open grazing ban in Southern Nigeria expired on September 1, the Gombe State Governor, Inuwa Yahaya, has urged the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to hasten the implementation of the National Livestock Transformation Plan.

Briefing State House Correspondents on Wednesday after a meeting he had with the President at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Yahaya said the implementation would address the challenge of accommodation that might result from the mass return of herders back to the North following the ban.

He stressed the need to develop the Wawa-Zange grazing reserve in the state to “accommodate the large number of herders that are likely to migrate to the North.”

Speaking on the purpose of his visit, the governor said, “We discussed the issue of Wawa-Zange grazing reserve. I think it is the largest grazing reserve that is gazetted in the whole of Nigeria totalling 144,000 hectares.

“I believe that Mr President earlier in 2020, precisely in his 2020 January speech, acknowledged and approved that the National Livestock Transformation Plan will take off with a model from Gombe, the Wawa-Zange reserve.

“But so far, nothing serious has been done on that, and with the position taken by governors of southern parts of this country, there is the need for us to fast-track the process of building that place so that in the event our people move in multitudes to come back to resettle, we will have space for them.

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“And we will avoid situations where there will be rancour and there will be no issues to do either with farmers/herders again or issues to do with the herders themselves having problems because they cannot have any space for them to stay.”

Quizzed whether he requested funds from the President to implement the project, Yahaya said, “We’ve requested for funds. I believe that every other state will do so because you need the resources to implement and financial resources are scarce in the state.

“So, we’ve requested. But I will not tell you how much. But at least, we’ve submitted a proposal that is fully backed by a feasibility report that indicates what we require.”

Yahaya stressed the need to exploit the oil and gas deposits in the North saying that in doing so, “we will have balance. While oil and gas are discovered up North and there is oil and gas in the South, there will be balance.”