.Insists govt must protect farmers
The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) has stated that it would not join issue with Shehu Garba over his comment that slain farmers didn’t get military clearance, saying the farmers are pleading with government to deal with the insecurity in the North east by clearing and bull-dozing Sambisa forest.
AFAN national president Arch Kabir Ibrahim, speaking with Blueprint on Monday said the banditry and kidnapping in the North west should also be decisively stemmed by doing the same thing to the forests there.
He said the continued threat to lives and livelihood of the people living in these areas far outways the presumed effect of climate change after defoliating the forests.
“The time to take action is NOW otherwise we will all die from the dehumanizing pain of hunger in these regions because the farmers cannot produce the required food for even subsistence.
“It is common knowledge that the insurgents have turned these forests into a safe haven.
“The security forces should make announcements for all persons living in the immediate vicinity of the forests to relocate because there will be air and ground raids as well as complete chemical defoliation of the forests.
“This will be followed by bull-dozing of sections of the forests immediately afterwards.
“We believe the climate activists will sympathise with us especially if we turn some of the cleared areas into farm land as it is evident that the farm plantations will also mitigate the feared climate change arising from the obvious deforestation.
“The desired food security of the country has several risk factors but the current situation portends real danger to it unless some drastic and decisive actions are taken immediately.
“Against the backdrop of the nearly 12-year- old Boko Haram insurgency in the North east and the incessant banditry and kidnapping in the North west, it is our informed opinion that the forests of Sambisa and Rugu will have to be bulldozed for any lasting peace to prevail in these regions of Nigeria which contribute to the food system,” he said.
