Father Innocent Jooji, the parish Priest of St. Luke Catholic Church, Predicts Farmers'Herdsmen Clashes Will Cause Food Scarcity

This was made known  during a round table discussion organized in Kubwa by the Catholic Laity Council of Nigeria, titled, ‘Nigeria, citizenship rights and responsibility’.

According to him, the prediction is based on the continuous clash, which has made it virtually impossible for farmers to go to their farms for fear of AK 47 wielding herdsmen.

“We talk about food security, we are going to face food insecurity because this is farming season and these crises have no end, farmers cannot go about their business freely and the herders cannot go freely either.” He said.

The Priest bemoaned the lackadaisical attitude of the government in the handling of insecurity in the country which has continuously led to the loss of several lives.

He reiterated how unfortunate it is that the Nigerian military which its known for its peace keeping operations across Africa is unable to put a handle on the country’s security crises.

He said, “It is a very unfortunate situation because for example the governor of Benue state said, that when this started he got the President and services chiefs informed but I think government is, was and is not proactive about it, is very casual about it.”

“The herdsmen/farmers conflict has been there but not at this magnitude. They have become very violent and Mr President said of recent that the herdsmen that we grew up to know carrying matchets and sticks to cut down grasses for their cattle but now they carry AK 47. Maybe it’s because our boarders are porous and people are smuggling in arms if they are not manned properly and this will continue.”

Source: Nigerianewsnet