14042021 -6 Northern govs link up to fight banditry, terrorism

32 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 2021
Cattle owners and herdsmen-farmers problem:
Matters Arising
By LADIPO
ADAMOLEKUN
WHO are the cattle own
ers? I would argue that
just as the eminently sensible
registration of herdsmen and
farmers in the forests of Ondo
State is critical to tackling the
problem of criminality
among herdsmen, registration
of cattle owners must be
acknowledged as critical to
achieving a comprehensive
solution to the various dimensions
of the herdsmen-farmers
problem. This dual-track
registration of herdsmen/
farmers and cattle owners
advocated for Ondo State
should be adopted by every
state confronted with the
herdsmen-farmers problem.
Deafening Silence
on Cattle Owners
Are all the cattle herded
across all the six South-west
(SW) states owned by Hausa-
Fulani? What proportion of
the cattle in SW is owned by
Yoruba? Similar questions
must be posed with respect to
cattle ownership in the Southeast
(SE), South-south (SS)
and North-central (NC) zones
where herdsmen/farmers
conflicts have persisted for
over a decade or longer. Based
on what I know and what I’ve
learned from reliable sources,
it would appear that a significant
proportion of the cattle
owners in the SW are Yoruba
and not Hausa-Fulani. I’ve
also learned that a significant
proportion of the cattle owners
in Benue state in the NC
are indigenes of the state and
not Hausa-Fulani. In these
circumstances, ethnic profiling
and cries of attacks on the
Fulani are nonsensical as far
as cattle ownership is concerned.
The deafening silence
on cattle owners must come
to an end; every state in the
geopolitical zones where herders-farmers
conflicts have
persisted must proceed without
delay to register the cattle
owners within its territorial
area and the registers must be
accessible to the public.
Regarding the herders
(darandaran), it is widely acknowledged
that they are predominantly
Fulani. Again,
what proportion of the herders
is from within Nigeria?
And what proportion is from
outside Nigeria? We should
have credible answers to these
questions at the end of the
registration of herders to be
conducted in every state concerned
– provided every registration
is both thorough and
detailed. Given the strong
evidence that a very high proportion
of herders are of
school-going age, the Communique
issued at the end of
a meeting of SW Governors
in Akure in late January to discuss
aspects of the herdsmenfarmers
problem included a
directive that all school-age
children who work as herders
should be withdrawn and sent
to school. Easier said than
done!
Without a reliable register
of herders and without the
active involvement of cattle
owners, this decision is unlikely
to be implemented. Pointedly,
why would Yoruba cattle
owners hire Fulani children
as herders when they should
be in school like the vast majority
of Yoruba children (at
least, in theory)? The same
question is applicable to Igbo,
Ijaw, Tiv, Idoma cattle owners
who hire Fulani children
as herders, to cite a few other
examples. The proposed registers
of cattle owners will
help to name and shame both
Fulani and non-Fulani cattle
owners across the country who
are keeping Fulani schoolage
children out of school.
A delicate but crucial task
in the proposed register of
herdsmen from outside Nigeria
is separating regular/
legal from “mercenary”
herdsmen. If, indeed, mercenary
herdsmen are engaged
in killings and kidnapping,
getting them registered is likely
to be a very tough challenge.
Again, it is apposite to raise
questions about Nigerian cattle
owners and foreign herdsmen.
All cattle owners who
employ foreign herdsmen
who are illegals and/or mercenaries
are complicit in their
criminality. And they should
know that ignorance is no
defense of the law.
Overall, then, cattle owners
are a big part of the herdsmen-farmers
problem and
the allied criminality of herdsmen.
They must be made a
part of the solution. In addition
to the registration of cattle
owners that has already
been suggested, their representatives
within each state
should be included in the Livestock
Business or Cattle Trade/
Farming Committees to oversee
the implementation of the
agreed solutions to the problem.
Implementation Challenges
and Enforcement
Capability
The Akure Communique
mentioned above explicitly
prohibited open (free-range)
grazing and unequivocally
adopted ranching and grazing
reserves as the way forward
with respect to cattle
trade/farming. Media reports
suggest that these positions
are broadly agreed upon
across the states of the federation.
However, after two
months, implementation
progress has been slow; there
has been more talk than action.
Crucially, the weak enforcement
capability of state
governments has been exposed.
FG owns no
lands on which
to establish
ranches; its role
in livestock
farming can only
be supportive of
states’ initiatives
Open Grazing
Prohibition:
Notwithstanding both legal
and declaratory prohibition
of open grazing in many
states, the practice has persisted.
Worse, there has been no
official Federal Government
(FG) response to recent news
report that Fulani Nationality
Movement (FUNAM) has
threatened to attack individuals
and states that are against
open grazing of cattle in the
country. Between February
and April, herders who engage
in open grazing have
attacked farmers in several
states across the SW, SS and
NC, with varying degrees of
•Prof. Ladipo Adamolekun
criminality. Then, there is the
category of criminal/killer
herdsmen (mercenary herdsmen?)
who attempted to assassinate
Governor Ortom of
Benue State during a visit to
his farm in March and those
involved in wanton killings in
Ebonyi State in early April.
To date, only a few cases of
effective enforcement of open
grazing prohibition have been
reported, notably two interventions
by Amotekun in
Ondo State involving cow
herders on Akure-Ilesa road.
But there is the unanswered
question of what Amotekun
corps would do with hundreds
and possibly thousands of
“arrested” cows. Clearly, effective
prohibition of open
grazing requires the existence
of operational ranches or/and
grazing reserves. The logic of
this sequencing appears incontrovertible!
Ranching:
The June 2018 consensus
within the National Economic
Council (NEC) on ranching
through a National Livestock
Transformation Plan
(NLTP) is an echo of previous
ranching initiatives by two
regional governments in the
1950s and 1960s. The striking
difference is that the regional
efforts in the 1950s and
1960s – Western Nigeria Livestock
Company (1956), comprising
about 11 Ranches
across the region and the
Northern Nigeria Rural Grazing
Area Law (1965) – had no
FG involvement whatsoever.
Against this backdrop, states
that continue to evoke the
NLTP ought to know that the
primary responsibility for its
implementation is theirs. Although
one or two SW states
are reportedly drawing on the
template established in the region
in the late 1950s, slow
implementation appears to
be linked to the expectation
that some federal funding
would be available. This
could become a case of waiting
for Godot. The FG cannot
and should not be expected
to fund ranches across the
states in the federation – this
will be antithetical to the devolved
federation that many
of the same governors are
clamouring for.
An outline of a good practice
alternative is provided by
Bayelsa State’s livestock farming
approach. According to
the State’s Commissioner for
Agriculture “If you are interested
in cattle business in
Bayelsa, the governor has
opened up business opportunities
of huge value chain in
the meat business. It is time
now. If you have land and you
want to ranch, you can ranch,
since we are going purely for
ranching. If you want to plant
grass and sell for cattle, you
can sell.” Specifically, he stated
that the state has created
“opportunities [enabling environment]
in the meat business
for people to take advantage
of and establish ranches
or grow grass to sell to cattle
breeders” (see Punch, March
30th 2021).
Another good practice example
is Kano State that has
moved speedily to establish
ranches. Because of the
progress the state has recorded,
it has attracted FG’s funding
as recently confirmed by
the Federal Minister of Agriculture:
“Just this week in
Kano, I inaugurated the pilot
scheme of the National Livestock
Breed Improvement Initiative
aimed at increasing
the diary potential of our indigenous
dairy cows and
meat yield of our national
herd” (See Punch, March
22nd 2021). Notwithstanding
the ambitious programmes
and projects that might be
contained in NLTPS (copies
of which are not widely available,
to my knowledge), the
initiative for implementing
ranching lies with individual
state governments; and that’s
how it should be. FG owns no
lands on which to establish
ranches; its role in livestock
farming can only be supportive
of states’ initiatives.
Finally, I learn that a livestock
farmer in one of the NC
states has established a Rural
Grazing Area (RUGA) for
breeding his own cows. Apparently,
he must have liaised
with his state government to
secure the land for his RUGA.
However, one hopes that if his
herdsmen are Fulani, they are
not children of school-going
age nor are they illegals or
mercenaries from foreign
countries!
Two concluding
observations
First, some suggestions
have been provided about
what states need to do regarding
the establishment of functioning
ranches. Bayelsa state
provides an example of a clear
statement of its role in establishing
an enabling environment
for private individuals
and groups (cattle owners et
al) to engage in livestock
farming. No concrete results
have been recorded but clarity
of the approach is commendable.
Next, Kano has
moved rapidly to launch a
state-led functioning livestock
farming programme
and has attracted FG’s funding
support for one aspect of
its programme.
Second, as already mentioned,
effective prohibition of
open grazing is contingent on
the existence of ranches and/
or reserved grazing areas.
However, even as ranches are
being established, prohibition
of open grazing has to be enforced.
I would argue that it is
now irrefutable that urgent
establishment of state police
– by the Doctrine of Necessity,
as recently advocated in a
Punch newspaper editorial
(April 7th) – is required for
ensuring that state governments
have the required enforcement
capability to effectively
prohibit open grazing.
And it is only a state police
directly answerable to the
Governor who is the chief security
officer within the state’s
territorial area that can meaningfully
tackle the unending
killings wreaked by criminal
herdsmen.
*Professor Ladipo Adamolekun
writes from Iju,
Akure North, Ondo State.
:Vanguard News
Foursquare holds annual Int'l
confab for ministers, leaders
SABA—AS part of
Ameasures to bring
medical services closer to
the riverine communities,
the Delta State Government
has commissioned
and handed over two boat
ambulances for use in the
‘hard to reach communities’
in the State.
The Delta State Commissioner
for Health, Dr. Mordi
Ononye handed over the
Boat Ambulances during
the commissioning and
handover ceremony to Dr.
Patrick Omu, Zonal Medical
Director, Central Hospital
Warri yesterday at Shell
yard, Ogunu, Warri in Warri
South Local Government
Area.
Dr. Ononye listed the six
beneficiary Council Areas
to include Bomadi; Burutu;
Patani; Warri North; Warri
South and Warri South West
with the charge to the Zonal
Medical Director and the
Executive Secretaries, Local
Government Health
Authorities to make judicious
use of the boats for
the benefit of the communities
concerned.
He decried the situation
in which over the years
there have been complaints
of inability to provide
social services to some
communities in the State
on the ground that they are
hard to reach areas due to
the difficult riverine terrain
but can be reached for the
purpose of extracting the
One-Story
magazine
launch/
N100m
equipment
fund raising
holds April 15
ASABA—THE official
launch of a frontline
magazine known as ‘ONE-
STORY’ and N100 million
printing equipment fund
raising is scheduled to hold on
Thursday, April 15, 2021, at
Hotel Benizia, Asaba,
beginning at 10:am.
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of
Delta State will serve as the
Special Guest of Honour with
the Chief of Staff, Government
House, Olorogun David
Edevbie as the chairman of the
occasion.
According to a statement
issued by the Managing
Editor of the magazine, Mr.
Omoru Godswill Itive, the
Speaker, Delta State House of
Assembly, Rt, Hon. Sheriff
Oborevwori, is expected to be
the guest of honour ,the
Chairman, Delta State Oil
Producing Areas
Development Commission,
DESOPADEC, Chief Michael
Diden will serve as the chief
launcher, while a renowned
scholar, Prof Sam Ukala
would review the magazine.
Other dignitaries expected at
the grand ceremony are the
chairman, Nigeria Union of
Journalists (NUJ), Comrade
Michael Ikeogwu, Rev Fr (Dr.)
Chukwuekwu Nwutu as well
as south south governors.
One-Story Weekly is a
publication of Global Synergy
Newspapers with the head
office in Asaba.
resources there. The Commissioner
stated that the
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa is
averse to this stand hence
his efforts at making sure
such communities get
same services including primary
health care services
that communities located
upland do enjoy.
He commended the duo
of Mr. William Angadi and
Captain Smart Asekutu,
Chairmen, Bomadi and
Warri North Local Government
Areas (LGAs) respectively
for being present at
the ceremony which was a
display of their commitment
to the activities in the
health sector in their LGAs.
According to the Commissioner,
“these ambulances
were purpose-built
as they have more space
inside and some level of
comfort for the end users
including toilet facility
when compared to the
regular ones we have”.
In her remark, Dr. Isioma
Okobah, Executive Assistant
to the Governor and
Board Chairman, Primary
Health Care Development
Agency said the additional
two boat ambulances will
go a long way in assisting
her Agency in carrying out
its immunization and vaccination
exercise as well as
ensuring that the maternal
health care services are
given full attention in the
hard to reach communities.
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