Some Nigerians on social media on Wednesday received the news of the sacking of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohammed Nanono, with suspicion.
According to them, the minister was fired in connection with the resolve of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to recover grazing routes across the country.
Buhari on Wednesday afternoon sacked Nanono and his Power counterpart, Saleh Mamman, according to presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina.
Adesina also announced that the Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abubakar, has been redeployed to the Ministry of Agriculture while the Minister of State for Works, Abubakar Aliyu is to take over as Minister of Power.
The two ministers – Nanono from Kano State; and Mamman from Taraba State — were in August 2019 sworn in as part of the over 40 ministers who make up the current Federal Executive Council.
Commenting on Nanono’s sacking, a Facebook user, Bassey Asuquo, wrote, “For Agric minister, I know it is because of his failure to implement RUGA and inability to trace cattle routes.”
“The Minister of Agriculture was unable to locate cattle routes and grazing areas,” Ingbian Benjamin.
Also, Emmanuel Segun stated that the sacked agriculture minister “wasn’t doing well with open grazing” and so the President needed someone “to enforce open grazing nationwide”.
The PUNCH had earlier reported that Buhari ordered the review of 368 grazing sites in 25 states despite widespread criticisms against open grazing and its attendant security consequences.
The 17 Southern governors had kicked against open grazing and given September 1, 2021, as the deadline for states in the region to sign Anti-Open Grazing Bills into law.
