THE PUBLIC HEALTH RAMIFICATIONS OF OPEN GRAZING PRACTICE IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The practice of open grazing as the main livestock management method in Nigeria comes with serious public health ramifications amongst other challenges. Transhumant migration within Nigeria and the West African sub-region for open grazing is aided by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Treaty allowing for the free movement of livestock and herders within the sub-region. The lack of political will, weak legal structures, inadequacies of laws, and lack of effective enforcement mechanisms keeps sustaining the culture and practice of open grazing in Nigeria. It is premised on the above that this article settled the argument on the justification or otherwise of open grazing in Nigeria. It takes the stance that open grazing causes serious menace to the Nigerian environment as it spreads diseases and increases the risk of exposure of livestock and humans to certain diseases from animal to animal or from animals to humans and vice versa. Also, open grazing spreads water borne diseases such as cholera, typhoid fever infections, hepatitis and zoonotic diseases due to contact with contaminated and polluted water; it contributes to bush burning, air pollution and air borne diseases such as asthma and other respiratory conditions; it exacerbates the spread of poverty diseases and climate change, all of which can negatively impact public health and safety. In conclusion, the authors recommended among other that anti-open grazing laws should be enacted at both the federal and State levels in Nigeria to eliminate the practice of open grazing and its accompanying challenges.