Experts are calling on the government to make haste for the integration of the Fulbe pastoralist into the society so as to eradicate the continuous attack on the innocent citizens in the country.
Former minister of interior Lieutenant General Abdulrahman Dambazau (Rtd) made the call at the National Security Summit with the theme “Exploring the Contemporary Security Challenges Facing Pastoralists and Fulbe in Nigeria.”
He said a long-term strategy is needed for solving the kidnapping pandemic that has practically led to the loss of lives and properties.
Leaders of the Fulani community have gathered here in the nation’s capital to seek practical solutions of ending all forms of unjust killings in the country.
The aim is to look at possible ways government at all levels can mainstream the Fulbe pastoralists through its implementation of the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) approved in 2019, an attempt to modernize livestock rearing.
They believed this strategic plan would provide the foundation that will enhance the integration of this Fulbe for national cohesion.
While speaking, General Dambazau (Rtd) noted that if agriculture can be subsidized for farmers, the government should replicate its efforts to livestock production to boost the country’s revenue.
Thus calling on the criminal justice system to single out the criminals among the Fulbe pastoralist communities and prosecute those found culpable accordingly for the interest of all.
“Beyond the idea of the UN Great Green Wall in the Sahel to checkmate the southwards movement of the desert, states, and federal governments, and the private sector should raise special funds for establishing ranching communities, particularly in the vast lands in the northwest and northeast, with all necessary facilities to enable the pastoralists to settle down permanently. After all, the government has been subsidizing agriculture, especially for farmers, and the production of livestock should be part of the government efforts to increase revenue.”
The former Interior minister also stressed the need to provide the pastoralists the opportunity of education and healthcare services while ensuring the cutting off of their access to weapons and drug abuses among the Fulbe youths.
“We must also clean up the stable, and by this, I mean, with the help of the NDLEA, the society must work on the drug abuse among the Fulbe pastoralist youth. We must ensure justice and pursue human capital development that would improve the education and health of the Fulbe pastoralist to open more opportunities for him for self-development in society. To do this, access to quality education and healthcare facilities should be provided for the Fulbe pastoralists, in addition to skills acquisition.
We must block his access to weapons and clean up all the weapons already in circulation within his environment.”
On his part, the National President, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Alhaji Husseini Bosso said the summit is aimed at enlightening the public on the stigmatization of the Fulbe people, adding that the perpetrators of these crimes are nothing but a few in the Fulani community.
According to him, the Fulbe people are the biggest victims of criminality as many have been abducted by unknown gunmen in their respective states.
Thus calling for the implementation of several policies of the government in order to tackle the Fulbe challenges in the country.
“We find it curious the way and manner about60 million Fulbe in Nigeria are being stereotyped and stigmatized by the media for the actions of a few. It should be noted that the Fulbe are the biggest victims of criminality in this country.
It is no longer news that kidnappings and armed banditry have become the order of the day in many communities in the country. What is baffling me is that crimes perpetrated against pastoralists have no traction in the media. MACBAN chairmen in Nasarawa, Kogi, Niger state, and five other local government chairmen including Gwagwualada area council were all recently abducted and killed. This buttress the fact that we are not spared from the atrocities of the kidnappings and banditry in our communities.
It is on record that all federal government policies geared towards alleviating farmers/herders’ conflict such as Ruga, and the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) have been consistently and deliberately frustrated even the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) supported Anchor Borrowers program does not support Livestock production.
It is our hope and expectations that this auspicious gathering with eminent personalities in their field of endeavors is going to proffer realistic solutions to the security challenges and the predicament of pastoral communities in the country.”
Alhaji Husseini further lament the ill-treated melted on its members by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Eastern Security Network (ESN), stressing that the government must put an end to this, so as to curb the threat to human corporate existence in the country.
“It is disheartening and despicable t
o see how members of the IPOB/ESN are constantly targeting our members in their quest to gain unmerited attention from the federal government. Our members are being used as a common powder to fan the embers of hatred. Recently, they set a whole trailer loaded with cattle ablaze after killing its occupants. What a callous and barbaric display of the highest degree of inhumanity.
Yet no compensation, no resettlement, unlike other Nigerians who suffered a similar fate. For a people with no known skills or trade, this is a real danger in the making.”
The highlights are to address issues of injustices melted on the Fulbe as they are perceived to be timid and naïve which gives reasons of being taken for granted, victimized, either civil or criminal despite their contribution to the GDP through the non-oil sector in the society.
