Catholic assembly supports anti-open grazing laws, ranching

The General Assembly of the Catholic Diocese of Jalingo has called on the Federal Government to do more to bring the protracted herdsmen and farmers’ clashes to an end.

The Catholic Diocese had made the call in a communiqué issued at the end of its 18th General Assembly held at St. Charles Borromeo Pastoral Centre, Jalingo, and signed by the Bishop of the Diocese, The Most Reverend Charles Hammawa, and Chancellor, Very Reverend Fr. Anthony Nzinang, in which it condemned the level of insecurity in the country.


It also said that it was in support of ranching and the proposition of anti-open grazing laws by states.

The communiqué read, “In recent times, issues of security have become a matter of concern to all Nigerians. We wish to state that Christians like other citizens have the constitutional right to protection of life and property.

“The government of the day must do more to bring the protracted herdsmen and farmers’ clashes, as well as other security challenges facing the nation, to an end.

“We agree with those proposing anti-open grazing and ranches’ establishment law as the best solution to ending the crisis.

“As a church, we believe that dialogue remains the ultimate solution to any form of conflict, so we implore authorities to use it for our common good. Let us stop killing and betraying one another.

“On our part, while we continuously pray for God’s intervention on the issue, we urge all Nigerians to be security conscious and cooperate with security agencies and our security personnel too must be proactive in responding to distress calls.”

The General Assembly appealed to politicians to avoid making statements that could incite violence and heat up the polity.

It also called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to create more registration centres and deploy effective and efficient machines to ease long queues at such centres.