A pressure group, Plateau Youths G-17 Peace and Progress Forum, on Tuesday, suggested that a law should be made for Fulani herdsmen to pay taxes wherever they have ranches throughout the country.

It said such a measure would increase the revenue base of the country and make herdsmen to stop the atrocities they perpetrate, including murder, rape and destruction of farmlands belonging to their host communities.

The forum also suggested an irrigational ranch for Fulani herdsmen at the entry point in the northern states to check the movement of cows from one place to another.

The convener of the organisation, Dachung Bagos, who spoke in Jos, also called on the Plateau State House of Assembly to replicate the example given by Benue State, which passed a bill that criminalised open grazing by Fulani herdsmen.

He wondered why Plateau State had not done anything on the anti-open grazing bill, saying it should have set the pace on the bill for other states to follow.

Bagos said, “As far as we are concerned, rearing of cattle is a private business. Those involved in it should be made to establish their ranches and animal farms themselves. And if they have cattle ranches, they should pay heavy taxes based on their number of cows.

“Theses ranches must be regulated and taxes paid for all the cattle. The herdsmen will have proper living environment and there should be insistence on hygienic living for them. And they should be there for a period and not forever in order to avoid fighting to claim the place.

“Cattle rearing should be treated as a business. If Fulani herdsmen want to rear cattle, they should acquire the land themselves and pay taxes to the government of any state where they do their business so as to increase the revenue base of the country. So, I am in strong support that herdsmen who operate ranches should pay tax to government.”

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Bagos urges PLSG to emulate Benue state by banning free range cattle grazing