Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo is chairing a committee comprising nine state governors to end the killings by herdsmen in parts of the country.

This was one of the decisions reached at a meeting of National Economic Council held at Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday.

Kano State Governor, Mr Abdullahi Ganduje, stated this at the end of the meeting presided over by Mr Osinbajo.

Ganduje named members of the committee to include governors of Kaduna, Zamfara, Taraba, Benue, Adamawa, Edo, Plateau, Oyo, and Ebonyi states.

The governor said, “The committee will work with the Federal Government to address the violence.

“Also, the committee will work to ensure that all the perpetrators of the violence are brought to book.”

Senate postpones summit till February
The Senate on Thursday postponed its planned national security summit on the spate of killings in Nigeria by two weeks.

The summit, scheduled to hold on Wednesday and Thursday next week, was shifted till February.

The upper chamber of the National Assembly had on Tuesday and Wednesday debated killings by herdsmen and other armed groups across Nigeria.

The lawmakers had resolve that plenary be suspended for two days to allow for a conference of stakeholders on insecurity in the country.
But at the plenary on Thursday, Majority Leader, Mr Ahmad Lawan, who is Chairman of the Senate’s Ad Hoc Committee on the Review of Security Infrastructure of Nigeria, moved a motion to seek the postponement of the event.

Lawan said, “Our committee met and considered that the time between now and then (next week) is too short for this Senate to organise a very good national summit. The committee needs more time to organise a summit that is worth its name and get a proper outcome.

“Our committee is therefore asking that we rescind our earlier resolution of holding the summit on Wednesday and Thursday next week and postpone it by two weeks, while the exact time will be announced later after we would have arrived at the final arrangement for the time.”

President of the Senate, Mr Bukola Saraki, put the request to voice vote and it was unanimously approved by the lawmakers.

Saraki asked Lawan to communicate the new date for the summit to the chamber as soon as possible.

Ishaku hails N’Assembly’s intervention
Taraba State Governor, Mr Darius Ishaku, on Thursday hailed members of the National Assembly for their collective resolve to address killings by Fulani herdsmen across the country.

This is contained in a statement by Ishaku’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Mr Emmanuel Bello.

The governor in the statement noted that the herdsmen crisis was as serious as the Boko Haram challenge in the North-East, commending the timely intervention of the legislators.

“This is very appropriate and timely because it is probably one of the biggest crises in Nigeria today.

“It is no longer a problem restricted to just one part of the country, it could consume the entire country if not checked,” the statement read in part.

While pledging his support to the lawmakers in finding a lasting solution to the problem, Ishaku urged the lawmakers to hasten up in addressing the issue from the legislative point of view to prevent further bloodshed.

“Nigeria is not the country with the highest number of cattle in the world; not even in Africa, but we don’t hear of killings by herdsmen in other countries like Nigeria.

“We must find out how others have coped with this problem and adopt their approach. I believe an effective legislation can bring about a lasting solution.

“As we speak, farming activities have stopped in many of our communities and this portends danger as famine looms in the horizon,” he added.

Punch