Tag: Herdsmen

By Godwin Etakibuebu

Keeping with the promise given yesterday of concluding this work today, let us move quickly through some proposed solutions. It is my hope that adopting a viable solution at this point in time will go a long way in preventing a catastrophic future.

It would help in saving lives from both sides of the divide but most importantly, the preservation of the geographical enterprise called Nigeria for posterity would be an advantage to the evergreen memory of the founding fathers of this “area of the Niger”, as Lady Flora Louise Shaw; that colourful British Journalist with the London Times [later to become wife of Lord Frederick Lugard] named it.

Above all, in my candid opinion though, is for our dear Country Nigeria remaining permanently in the geographical map of this world. This is most important because retired Lieutenant General Theophanus Yakubu Danjuma warned in his book; “The Making of a General” that “there is no one country in the world that has survived two civil wars”.
And if the conflict between herdsmen and farmers across the country is not resolved with every immediacy and seriousness of attention, it is most likely to increase tensions [if not already created] among the ethnic nationalities, with the danger of resulting into the background of black market’s procurement of arms and ammunitions for self-defense by all the ethnic nationalities and if this is attained [God forbid] civil war might just be lurking around the corner. It is for this reason that we must faction out a solution to this abysmal threat.

FIRST PROPOSAL.

We need the cow meat all over Nigeria for cogent reasons which cannot be made subject of debate on this platform. Having the cow-meat as staple on all Nigerians’ table is necessary except those who are vegetarian, those excluded from eating red-meat for reasons of medical, old age or, in some areas, traditional inhibition. It is also a fact of history that the cow being consumed all over the country has its concentration of cultivation from a geographical part of Nigeria, predominantly Northern part of the country.

It is also a common knowledge that the Hausa Fulani are the herdsmen, with no static place of abode, roaming from one place to another, seeking for greener pastures for the purpose of feeding their herds. It is for this reason that the Hausa Fulani are called Nomadic. Another fact that needed establishing quickly is that in the turn of this century, when the herdsmen were making their incursion into the South of Nigeria, they had a route of passage. I am talking of events after the amalgamation of south and north Nigeria because the Nomadic Fulani was not a known personality to what constitute today’s Southern Nigerian until good number of years after the amalgamation.

There is something that needs establishing quickly before we move ahead and this is the incontestable fact that whatever the method the Hausa Fulani herdsmen embark upon in integration, he is first and foremost a businessman, with only one product to sell, which is the cattle. That being the fact of history, it is prudent for economic reason for him to establish his “factory”, albeit the ranching place of the product, close to “source of raw material”. This is a simple economic policy that has been practiced over the world.
Running into conclusion on this first option of proposed solution, let us look at another dimension of the Hausa Fulani herdsmen’s immigration into Southern Nigeria.

It coincided with movement of Igbos, from the South/East of Nigeria into the North, even the far North, with their commercial activities. I can still recall vividly when l first visited an Uncle working with the Nigerian Railways Corporation, in the North [Nguru specifically]; immediately before the Nigeria/Biafra war, meeting many Igbos in the interior. The Igbo moved across frontiers to purchase their wares and return back to their established basis. Apart from those that built houses with the land they purchased with their money [and there are many though there are few cases where the land was given to them freely but this is very rare] it is never heard that the Igbo man or the Community of Igbos made any attempt at annexure directly or through conspiracy of government of the day. What is good for the goose is good for the gender as well.

Ipso facto, annexing ranching lands forcefully from far away source of raw material for the Hausa Fulani herdsmen might be an effort, not only in futility but could instigate ethnic clash which is already happening. There is a way out of this cull-de-sac dark ally of conflict but l need to say a word or two on the second proposed solution before l come back here because both have one solution.

SECOND PROPOSAL
There is a common saying in Nigeria that “the Hausa consume Kola-nut [mostly Gworro specie], the Yoruba produce it [in commercial quantity] while the Igbo reverence it”. The wisdom of this saying should be an eye opener in tackling the menace of herdsmen and farmers with their farmland. Let us look at it this way, there is no attempt on the part of the Yoruba, the producers of Kola-nut in such commercial quantity to acquired land in the North for e purpose of planting this seed [Kola-nut] and that has never stopped the Northerners from gaining access into the consumption of this product.

And there have never been any melee resulting from this simple arrangement. What it takes for continuity of relationship between the consumers and producers of this item is purely a simple economic principle. The farms [which in this case translate to the factory] are established close to source of raw material in the South/West, moving only the finished product to the consumers in the North. This is how international trade is prosecuted. China is far away from countries like Nigeria, yet, they in China shipped their finished products to us while they take from us some sort of raw materials like cassava, starch, logs of woods, snails and many other things.
What is expected to be done in face of this reality is to concentrate ranching within the region of the raw material, move the products [cows] into the South, through a functional Railway Services for the consumption of the ready-made market in the South. The challenge here is for the Federal Government to provide functional and modern Railway lines. If this becomes a policy, we would be forcing the federal government in discharging on its responsibility. Does it take the Federal Government any dilemma in giving
Nigerians a functional rail line in an era that the same federal government is extending rail lines to neighbouring countries of Chad and Niger Republics?
There is yet another benefit if these suggestions are implemented but not after mentioning the third solution, which again is very simple.

THIRD AND LAST PROPOSED SOLUTION.

Somebody told me that Sambisa Forest in Borno State of the North/East is as large as 686 square kilometers of land, which is over-exaggerated. The real size of Sambisa Forest, according to a statement credited to Lt Gen Tukur Buratai, when he visited Enugu State on March 17, 2016, is 7,161 square kilometers because he told his audience that “Sambisa is the size of Enugu State”. If that forest is as large as that, the totality of the land can be converted into cattle ranching or even “cattle colony”, as the Federal Soldiers have secured the whole land from the dreaded Boko Haram insurgents.

It will be better to use the whole land for this purpose than what the Chief of Army Staff once proposed for that place to wit: turning the forest into a training ground for small arms operation for the Nigerian Army. Let us look at the beauty of making Sambisa Forest a befitting Ranching place.
At 7,161 square kilometers, it gives about 8,000,000 plots of land of 100×100 and that can take 80,000,000 cows at 10 cows per plot and the total cows we have in the country today is far below 40,000,000. Sambisa Forest is the answer ipso facto.

The question now remains how can we get that forest to ranch all the cows and get the consumption of the product circulated all over Nigeria? Again, this is a simple solution. All over the world today, herdsmen are no more nomadic and if they are not, their routes can never be blocked as the Minister of Defense suggested. In Europe and all over the world, the cow meat being consumed in the major cities are slaughtered some miles away from the point of consumption. It is the finished product, the slaughtered cow, properly sliced to pieces that are moved through refrigerated coaches [train] or vehicles. In Moscow, the meat they consumed in the Kremlin is moved from about thousands of miles away from the place of consumption.

A focused government, like the one Muhammadu Buhari is trying to create can bring this to come to pass within few months. All he needs doing is diverting our money from extending Rail lines into other countries and bringing same to put Nigeria on the shinning spot of world map
Another thing is that if these cows are slaughtered in Borno State, in Sambisa Forest for example, many companies that will turn the bones, horns and other waste materials of the slaughtered cows to befitting creation of other finished products will come on board and that will amount creation of jobs for my brothers and sisters of the far North.
I rest my case and submit same to the consideration and approval of Nigerians and President Muhammadu Buhari.

Godwin Etakibuebu, a veteran journalist, wrote from Lagos.