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From Olanrewaju Lawal, Birnin Kebbi
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has committed $1.5 million yearly to infrastructure facilities in all the cross-border areas in the region, with $350,000 each to Kebbi State, Dossou region in Niger Republic and Alibori in Benin Republic.
ECOWAS Director of Agriculture Development Mr Alain Sy Traore made the disclosure in Birnin Kebbi during the opening ceremony of the Validation Workshop on Holistic Cross-border Cooperation Document for Trio-Border Regions of Kebbi State, Dossou Region(Niger republic) and Alibori department in Benin Republic.
The validation meeting follows the High-Level Dialogue on Pastoralism organised in September 2021 as part of the activities lined up to round off the West Africa Integrated and Secure Pastoralism Project Regional Sahel Pastoralism Support Project Africa Union Border Programme.
Traore said: “We are taking new steps towards building socio-economy infrastructure on these cross-border areas. So, an action plan to prevent conflict between the herders and farmers and also needed to counter terrorism’s negative impacts in our communities by committing a lot of funding across the ECOWAS members states by investing in the establishment of infrastructure facilities for the benefit of women and the people in the cross border areas.
“This commitment on this will be $1.5million for all the cross borders in ECOWAS states and particularly in Kebbi State, Alibori and Dossou, we will be committing $350,000 for specific infrastructure facilities in these areas”, he added.
Traore, who commended Kebbi state Governor, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu for his commitment and dedication to the validation of cross borders in the three regions, said, without that ECOWAS and other development partners would not be attending the programme and committing to the progress of the course.
He added that the commitment of the ECOWAS was meant to resolve conflicts between the herders and farmers within the region.
According to him, “these infrastructures will be equally shared by the women and men so that they can exercise their activities to their welfare. This commitment is within the framework of ECOWAS conflict resolution and ECOWAS against terrorism and negative impacts on banditry and terrorism effects in our communities.”
Earlier, the Director General of the National Boundary Commission of Nigeria, Alhaji Adamu Adaji, said that the multi-stakeholders intervention focused on the grassroots actors, particularly those operating in cross-border areas.
He added that the support for the programme could not have come at a better time owing to the security challenges arising from conflicts between Hardee’s and farmers across West Africa and the Sahel Region.
“The choice of Kebbi state, Nigeria to host this validation workshop was because of its geostrategic location. Kebbi borders Nigeria’s two West African neighbours in the border regions of Dossou (Niger Republic) and Alibori (Benin Republic).
“The state also serves as a sub-regional route for many trans-human herds from Niger, Benin, Togo, and even Ghana. More important is the appreciative importance Gov. Atiku Bagudu had shown for his project through his passion and commitment.
“The governor in line with the priority transformation agenda of the Federal Government of Nigeria is committed to boosting agriculture and livestock production not only in the state but also in Nigeria as a whole and by extension in the proximate neighbouring regions,” he said.
Adaji said that the federal government attached great importance to pastoralism and livestock management in the country.
“The government had demonstrated this clearly in her efforts at identifying, retracing, and demarcating the primary livestock routes in all the geopolitical zones of the country. The government has also continued to explore various options for the management of pastoralism and livestock in order to reduce conflicts between herders and farmers over access to land and use of other natural resources,” he said.
Adaji described the validation of the document as apt and timely, saying it would promote and facilitate inter-communal dialogue and strengthen the desired cross-border cooperation in their shared spaced and across the colonial inherited borders.
The DG commended Governor Bagudu for his passion and interest in the project and his generous funding as well as the inputs of their development partners for their commitment to the great humanitarian investment.
While declaring the workshop open, Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, represented by the Commissioner of Animal Health and Fisheries, Alhaji Aminu Garba-Dandiga, thanked the participants from Benin, Niger and Nigeria and other relevant stakeholders for choosing and coming to the state.
