THE Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Yahaya, said on Thursday that the state had identified and gazetted no fewer than 88 grazing and forest reserves.

Yahaya disclosed this during an NTA flagship programme Tuesday Live, while analysing the topic: ‘Perspective on reviving grazing and forest reserves’, monitored by our correspondent.

Wawa-zange, one of the 58 grazing reserves, is said to have about 144,000 hectares believed to be the largest in Africa.

Yahaya said, “The Wawa-zange grazing reserve we have talked about is gazetted and as at today, Gombe has 58 grazing reserves and 30 forest reserves. Majority have been bastardised because of encroachment.

“You need to do a thorough analysis to know where to site what, at what point; once you do that, the rest of the things will follow. If you don’t allow anybody else that doesn’t have business to do with animal husbandry in an area left for grazing, you will not have any problem again.

“You could support people that want to set up an abattoir, instead of taking the animals to where they would have been consumed, you can cut and process and take them processed to the places they are going to be consumed. The first grazing reserve was established as far back as 1927.”

Speaking, Prof. Babagana Gambo, Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, Yobe State University, also urged government across all divides to follow suit by gazetting the specified reserves in order to rid communities of conflict.

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