Serious head on collision which would have resulted into bloody conflict between Fulani herdsmen and farmers at Bankubu (Okuta) in Baruten Local Government Area of Kwara State has been averted.

Over time, there had been cold war between the farmers and the Fulani pastoralists at the Bankubu village over the Gidan Magajia Grazing Reserve. According to investigation carried out by The Herald the recent mutual recrimination between the two communities could have led to the breakdown of a fragile peace between farmers and the Fulani herdsman but for the quick intervention of the Emir of Okuta, Alhaji Idris Abubakar, the Security agencies and Kwara State Ministry of Agriculture.

The Gidan Magajia Grazing Reserve which is the cause of the conflict is reportedly the largest grazing reserve Kwara State and the most partially functioning grazing reserve in the state for now.

The grazing reserve which had been gazetted by the Kwara State Government occupied about 21,156 hectares of land. It was developed with facilities such as four earth dams which provide regular water supply for the cattle, nomadic school, 5 or 6 boreholes which presently are not functioning. These facilities made the Fulani herdsman around the area to be permanent residents of that area. This has often led to mutual suspicion and not too good relationship between the pastoralists and the farmers.

In recent time, the Bankubu indigenes who are predominantly farmers due to their growing population and their communal expansion, are beginning to encroach on the grazing land in their quest for more fertile land for crop farming. More so, most of the land reserved for the Gidan Magajia fertile land for crop farming.

This will definitely lead to the head on collision between the farmers and the Fulani pastoralists. To avert this, a conflict management workshop was held on 21 of June by the Ministry of Agriculture to bring both the pastoralists and the farmers together.

The representatives of the State Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Director of Livestock, Mallam Umar Muhammed urged both the Pastoralists and the farmers to live together peacefully even as he pleaded with them to have mutual respect for one another.

The Honourable Commissioner stressed that both parties are equally important in their communities calling on them to complement each other’s effort rather than always fighting over the community’s property. He reminded them that the Federal Government established a fully gazetted grazing reserve at Bankubu several years back to avoid the herdsmen’s encroachment on the farmers’ farmlands.

He advised the farmers to always seek for technical advice from the Ministry of Agriculture as this would improve their farming and help them with bountiful harvest.

The Emir of Okuta, Alhaji Idris Abubakar who was represented at the meeting by his Waziri, Alhaji Zilani Usman appreciated the efforts which nipped the ensuing conflict in the bud adding that the workshop was a welcome development. He pledged the Emir’s commitment to promote peaceful co-existence between farmers and the pastoralists.

Responding, the Council Head representative of Bankubu Village, Alhaji Bio Saliu, thanked the government of Kwara State for the workshop. He stated that simple issues that were supposed to be settled amicably either at the village’s head palace had often resulted into conflict and serious court matters and commended the Ministry of Agriculture for the intervention.