Issues pertaining to the dynamics of cattle rearing/breeding and the collateral fallouts in the context of Nigerian multi-ethnic and multi-cultural environment have for long been a subject of public discourse in Nigeria. Such discussions have been met with different degrees of tension and success over time, with underlying hope that the grey areas in the interface between the herders and the local communities where they ply their livestock business would be straightened out along the line.
The actualization of this hope of glorious harmony however seems to be suffering momentary setback owing to the recent eruptions of multifaceted security challenges that interrogate Nigeria’s will in furthering her sworn march to consummate nationhood.
The hiccups posed by heightening insecurity of lives and property resultant upon wide range of unruly banditry, kidnappings, savage killings and arson top the scale of the worries that torment Nigerians across the nation’s geopolitical space. These issues unfortunately converge in conspiracy against the ordinary itinerant herders whose interests in traditionally breeding their cattle across the length and breadth of the country are only traceable to genuine economic gains accruable from their cattle rearing venture. No more!
Unfortunately, the herdsmen in Nigeria today are easily made victims of the country’s failure to achieve communal cohesion among her peoples. It is this failure that has instigated some people to condemn herdsmen en bloc for sundry crimes in localities instead of insisting on fishing out culpable criminals and making them face the wrath of the laws of the land. This demonization of herdsmen has percolated to hatred for a tribe whose predominant occupation over the ages is livestock breeding.
The Fulanis in their spread across Nigeria very recently became stigmatized to the extent that most communities where generations of them had lived in with little or no qualms suddenly woke up to announce them persona non grata. Fulanis suddenly got tabooed and became endangered amongst peoples they had lived with for ages; and every step a Fulani person takes becomes subjected to ruinous suspicion that steadily diminishes genuine social cohesion amongst the people.
It will be wrong of anyone to pretend ignorance of the unacceptable menace of some marauding gangsters in the forests some of who are of Fulani descent, but the fact is that criminals do not discriminate who bears the brunt of their criminal acts. Fulanis as well as people of other ethnic stocks are equal victims of the criminal elements lurking in the bushes and other evil places. The criminals are mixed in their tribal origins. They won’t even be half Fulanis in number. True, the country suffers in the hands of despicable fellows whose various criminal acts trigger social revulsions amongst innocent citizens. Criminals are found among the different Nigerian ethnic nationalities. A situation where Fulanis are stereotyped as criminals rail-loaded for demonization and ostracism can hardly be justified.
The government should squarely rise to the challenge of protecting innocent citizens from the hands of criminals, and save the people avoidable suspicion, rancor, frictions and hatred that are consequences of insecurity in the land. It is the prime responsibility of every government to provide security for its citizens. Nigeria’s case cannot be different!
The current spate of discussions on open grazing and its ban by state governments of Southern Nigeria are precipitates of wanton spread of insecurity. Herdsmen have been known to traverse the country plying their trade of breeding cattle with containable frictions in their localities. The anxiety thrown up by the general sense of insecurity in Nigeria have further exposed the vulnerability of herders whose mode of animal husbandry is unarguably old-fashioned and whose lifestyle is closely tied to their itinerant nature. This condition is not bound to remain.
It is common knowledge that society evolves. This evolution evidently reflects in the totality of the activities of humans globally. The changing economic activities and cultures of persons, groups of persons, states and nations of the world are indicators of the prevailing dynamics in the affairs of humans and institutions; hence change is believed to be an inimically constant phenomenon. It matters less how long it takes change to occur, its reality is sure.
Nigeria, being part of the global community, cannot be removed from this reality of change and inclination to progressive policies and acts to increasingly enhance the quality of life of her citizens. This is to say that as long as change is positive and people-friendly, its acceptance by the people would only take time and conscious efforts of government to impress its relevance on the people.
Many people often misunderstand the voice of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) when we seek restraints in the zeal with which Southern governors announced ban on open grazing in their geopolitical space. While we might not contest the right of these leaders to so act, we struggle to impress on them the need to be less hasty in driving their interests to conclusion. Our reason is predicated on the fact that since the economic group targeted by the legislation has not been duly orientated on the prescribed new ranching order, there is need to allow sufficient incubation period for the ranch culture to be adopted among the people.
The superiority of the ranch idea to the outdated grazing form now in use is incontrovertible. What we seek and most sincerely hope to get is time for our people to be duly instructed on the need to embrace the new order. We seek no more than this, and we are confident that given the metropolitan worldview and the nationalistic inclinations of the political leaders of Southern Nigeria, including the live and let live disposition of millions of Southerners resident outside their regions, our submission would receive the consent we seek from the right quarters and from the discerning public.
Ranching it is! But we plead for time to embrace the nuances of the new order.
We ask for no more, in the interest of fair recognition and equity.
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Alhaji Gidado Siddiki (from Awka – 08037786028) is the South East Zonal Chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association of Nigeria (MACBAN)
