ENGLISH ESSAY QUESTIONS:-
Your are required to answer only one question
from this
section, Your Answers should not be less than
450 words.All
question carries equal marks. Your are adviced
to spend
about 45 minutes on this section```
(1)The library and debating society of your
school is
organising a debate on the topic: Poverty and not
corruption
is the Bane of our society Write your argument
for or against
the motion
(2) Write an article suitable for publication in a
national news
paper on the dangers posted by the use of
commercial
motorcycles in our cities and suggest ways of
crubing them
(3) Write a story that best illustrates the saying
_A leopard
cannot change its spot_
(4) Write a letter to the honorable minister of
agriculture on
ways of boosting agriculture in your country
======================
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ESSAY ANSWERS:
(4)
Niyi Akinnaso
Dear Chief Ogbeh,
This is a follow-up on the ways of boosting
Agriculture in our
country.
Furthermore, just last weekend, at least 12
persons were
reportedly killed and 18 seriously injured by
suspected Fulani
herdsmen in a fresh attack in three villages in
the Gassol
Local Government Area of Taraba State. All this
goes to show
that the President’s directive on securing
communities
previously attacked is not working, and no
measure is in
place to prevent attacks on new targets.
As for the directive to apprehend the perpetrators
of various
killings across the country, the anxious public
has yet to be
informed about major arrests since the directive
was given. If
arrests have been made, then the culprits should
be paraded,
arraigned, and sentenced publicly, partly to
provide
psychological closure for those who lost loved
ones in the
attacks and partly to serve as a deterrent to
other herdsmen.
At the end of the day, the public wants to be
assured that the
President’s directive to deal with the perpetrators
is not
another instance of movement without motion.
The President’s most impactful directive is on
the creation of
what he called “grazing areas” with which your
ministry is
charged. It is refreshing that you have re-
interpreted this
directive appropriately, namely, to create ranches
for cattle
farmers, rather than the controversial grazing
reserves, which
would also require grazing routes through several
states.
Many states have vowed never to allow such
encroachment.
Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State spoke for
others, when
he declared: “Grazing zones could be created for
those who
are traditional cattle rearers in their areas. I’m
not against
that, but you cannot come here and tell me you
want to
occupy our land for grazing zones. The land
exists in our
respective states and as such, the rightful
owners should
decide what to do with them” (Nigerian Tribune,
April 26,
2016).
Questions remain, however, with the plan you
announced
about creating ranches. Let me repeat what you
said: “We
have already acquired 5,000 hectares of land
from nine
states. We wrote and the governors gave us land
but we have
to farm them out to private sector investors who
will prepare
the land and make sure they can harvest grass
six to seven
times a year, dry or rainy season, and the cows
have fresh
grass to eat.”
Following an earlier lead from you, it is safe to
assume that
the nine states are all from the North, the home
region of
cattle rearers in the country. Here are my
questions: Who
partners the private investors in preparing and
grassing the
ranches — the Federal Government or the
respective states
which own the land? What role will the ultimate
users of the
ranches — the cattle rearers — play in the
venture? Would
they purchase ranches, once ready, or pay rent to
the
investors? Or, will the respective states pick up
the rent and
farm out the ranches to cattle rearers in their
states? And
what happens to pockets of cattle owners in
parts of the
south? Will you also work with the affected state
governments
in providing the same assistance?
Or will their cattle continue to graze freely while
those in the
north are being ranched?
I raise these questions as a follow-up to my
earlier suggestion
in the letter to the President that the Federal
Government
should not put taxpayers’ money into the
ranching venture,
unless there are plans to so assist other animal
and crop
farmers throughout the country. I quite
understand, of course,
that the Federal Government may want to partner
cattle
farmers, if the goal is to put Nigeria on the map
of top
suppliers of beef, dairy products, and leather to
the rest of
the world. What I am saying is that such a policy
should be
generalised to other farmers.
There is also the technical question about the
basis of your
planning so far. How many cattle farmers are
there and,
approximately, how many heads of cattle are we
talking
about? If you don’t have these statistics, how are
we sure that
the arrangements underway will solve the grazing
problem
once and for all?
There are also other knotty issues in need of
clarification by
your ministry. One is the true identity of the
marauding
herdsmen. True, there are cattle owners, like
Senator
Abdullahi Adamu, who are not Fulani; but are
there herdsmen
in Nigeria, who are not Fulani?
You raised another dimension of the identity
problem, when
you wondered if foreign herdsmen were not
behind the
attacks. This position tallies with that of the
Inspector-
General of Police, Solomon Arase, who
insinuated that the
killer herdsmen could have been foreigners. He
even
pinpointed armed men displaced by the crises in
Libya and
Mali.
However, this position is contradicted by the
Nigeria
Immigration Service, which argues that there is
no proof that
there are foreign cattle rearers in Nigeria. At
least, none
entered through Nigerian borders. The position is
also
contradicted by local knowledge. For example,
the leaders of
the Cattle Breeders Associations in Plateau and
Benue states
have stated publicly that the killings by Fulani
herdsmen were
a revenge for the killings of their members and
for stealing
their cattle.
This immediately raises the question of cattle
rustling, which
needs as much attention as cattle grazing. Who
are the cattle
rustlers and where do they come from? Perhaps,
the spotlight
on foreignness should be turned on them.
These contradictions go to the heart of the
Nigerian problem:
No reliable statistics. No coordination among
related
government agencies. Problems are solved on the
fly.
Government officials say what they think, rather
than what
they know for sure. And the list goes on.
Still one major task remains, and it should have
been the
starting point — disarming the herdsmen. Since
herders will
still continue to roam with their cattle in search
of green
pastures before ranches are ready, it is critical to
disarm
them to minimise future assault.
Again, you already indicated that you would bring
this matter
to the President’s attention. Please, do so
immediately. It
also will be useful if the sources of their arms
could be
investigated so they could be blocked.
Now, my friendly advice. True, the buck stops on
the
President’s desk on this issue, everyone now
knows that it
also passes through your desk. It will be a great
achievement
if you could facilitate the process by which the
menacing
clashes between herdsmen and farmers are
brought to an
end. While going about this onerous task, it will
be helpful to
update the public from time to time. It also will
be useful to
seize this opportunity to begin to develop a
databank on
cattle rearing in this country that could be used
as the basis
for future planning
YOURS FAITHFULLY
