2019: Atiku Strategies, Blast FG, Northern Governors Over Grazing Reserves

By Lola SERIKI- IDAHOSA, Kaduna

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has lambasted the Federal Government and Northern States of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for agitating for grazing reserves in the 21^st Century where technology has advance the process of Cattle rearing.

The former   vice president who presented a paper on the memorial conference of Late General Hassan Usman Katsina with the theme Challenges of National Integration and the survival of Democracy in Nigeria said ‘’ as a country we have mightily struggled to live up to ideal. We have obviously not done enough to realized national integration and the survival of democracy is still a work in progress’’

‘’when we have had the opportunity to take advantage of advances in technology and produce even fatter animals to meet the country’s rising demand for meat, the concept of grazing reserves is rather been propagated, this is what the rest of the world have done’’. He maintained.

Abubakar further reiterated the need to promote diverse economic activities to reduce over dependence on oil. ‘’it is the raising dominance of oil revenues that led us to abandon cash crops and food agriculture but before oil Agriculture was our main industry and we tax it’’

Atiku Abubakar however recommended that governors should do more on internally generated revenues to complement Federal Allocations and an honest and clear –headed look at better working federal systems in the world saying those systems will reveal among other things a greater devolution and autonomy for federating units and less interference of the center on local matters.

The occasion had Former Head of State General Yakubu Gowon as Chairman of the occasion who was personally in attendance with others. It was however very apt as all the Northern Governors shunned the memorial Conference with only Deputy Governors of Kaduna and Katsina who came to represent their principals.