Nnaya Eziyi, Umuahia
Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris
Abia State correspondent of The Authority Newspaper, Steve Oko has lost crops worth about N.5 million to cattle in his farm in Olokoro community in Umuahia South Local Government Area.
Conducting newsmen around the farm, Oko expressed worry over the destruction, saying he had petitioned the state Farmers/Herdsmen Conflicts Resolution Committee on the matter.
He said he decided to embrace farming early this year as part of strategies to survive the biting economic hardship in the country and also to enhance his economic base.
“Early this year when it became obvious that I could no longer depend on irregular salary for my ever- increasing financial needs, I decided to suppress my ego and go into farming,” Oko said.
“Apart from heavy financial, I was also involved in the activities. Very often I was drenched by rains while working on the farm. My motivation was the promising bumper harvest I had hoped for” he noted.
Bemoaning that the hope had been shattered, Oko, who explained that his calculation was also to embark on a major project from the proceeds, added that the herdsmen had turned the farm to a grazing field.
He called on the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Anthony Ogbizi, who also doubles as the chairman of the committee, to insure adequate compensation for the destruction to mitigate the loss.
The correspondent, who condemned the menace of Fulani herdsmen in the state, regretted that the Federal Government had been late in coming with a solution to the matter.
