National President of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Baba Usman Ngelzarma, in an interaction with journalists on the recent killings in Kwara State, dismisses claims against indigenous Fulani herders, and outlines what he believes are lasting solutions to the herder-farmer crisis. MANSUR ARAMIDE was there.
In Kwara State, Yorubas, Fulanis, and Nupes have been living together peacefully over the years. How do you see the recent attack by bandits and kidnappers? I mean, people are telling us that Fulanis are the ones doing this, doing that.
You must understand that the insecurity problem is not only in Kwara State. It is far beyond that.The problem is in the entire country, across different regions. The entire North-Western zone of Nigeria is a hotbed of violence. You know what is going on in Zamfara, you are aware of what is happening in Katsina, and you have also definitely heard of what is going on in Sokoto and Kebbi States.
Apart from the activities of bandits, kidnappers, and cattle rustlers, you also have some other groups of insurgents who are emerging in different names and factions. They call themselves Lakurawah, some others Mamudawah, and then you hear of other splinter groups with new names, all coming up to add to the security problems we already have in this country. So, what is happening in Kwara State is not different in nature from what is happening nationwide.
You must have followed what is going on in Plateau, what is happening in Benue, and even the renewed clashes in parts of Enugu. In the North-East, Boko Haram is still launching attacks and carrying out ambushes.
So, it is not only a Kwara State issue. But the peculiarity of our problem in Kwara here is that, historically, Kwara has been relatively peaceful. The residents of Kwara State, Yorubas, Fulanis, Nupes, Barubas, and others, are living in peace and have coexisted without serious problems for years.
The Yorubas and the Fulanis, in particular, have maintained peaceful coexistence. But we believe that, as of today, because of the infiltration of some criminals from Zamfara State, this is what we are experiencing in Kwara. Before it came into Kwara, it first took place in Kogi State.
So, I strongly believe the problem that started in Kogi is now gradually moving into Kwara. And the style of these criminals is that they always move to places where there is a concentration of rich Fulanis who have large herds of cattle.
Why do they do this? Because they steal the cows from these wealthy pastoralists to fund their criminal activities, to get more arms, and to sustain their networks in so many other ways. They always kidnap Fulanis in the forest. On a daily basis, hundreds of them are being kidnapped.
They bring the cows into the town, sell them in markets or through middlemen, and then use the proceeds to go and pay ransom or to buy guns and motorcycles quietly.
Even when they are kidnapped and they report, what is going to be done? Nothing tangible. The victims keep silent and negotiate because they do not have many options. And if they attempt to run, how long will they run with 200, 300 cows? With all the families they have in the forest, wives, children, dependants, how far can they run? The farthest they can attempt is three kilometres. And these criminal gangs are using motorcycles. They can trace and get them in less than five minutes.
What we are experiencing here in Kwara is that the pastoralists are the most affected. Their cows are being taken away on a daily basis. And they themselves are being kidnapped almost every day.
They are not spared at all. And because of the negative profiling by the media, today, each and every community sees them as criminals by default. Today, when these cattle rustlers and kidnappers are disturbing them in the forest, and the pastoralists come into the town for safety, the community is still seeing them as criminals, sometimes attacking them also. They are really in trouble from both sides.
This is not the only problem of Kwara State; it is the same problem facing the entire country. But the people of Kwara must understand this difference. It is the infiltration of criminals from Zamfara and other neighbouring states that is disturbing the peace in Kwara. It is not the Fulanis, not the indigenous Kwara Fulanis. They are not the ones behind it. I believe they are not the ones. And in fact, they themselves are not spared; they are suffering from it too.
What do you offer as a solution to these problems?
Well, the solution in Kwara is for the government to be more proactive, to be up and doing consistently. The governor of Kwara is also the chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum. I am sure that, in his position, he understands the security concerns of the country more than any other person at the state level. Because reports are always given to him on what is going on in various states across the country. He knows more than many others.
So, what we are calling for is for the government to double its efforts, to work more closely with the security agencies and also with the leadership of our association. Because members of the association are always ready to cooperate with the government and to flush out these criminals from the state. They are ready. That is the reason the late chairman of our association in Kwara lost his life, I believe. He lost his life because he was helping the government to fight crime. He was helping the community to fight crime. That was the reason why he was killed.
Our members are always ready to cooperate with the government in ensuring peace in this state. Let the government work, let the security agencies work with the leadership of the association in this state, all in the interest of peaceful coexistence. But let the community also understand that even the pastoralists who are living in the forest are not spared by these criminals.
Let them stop seeing them as criminals by mere association. Let them work hand in hand with them. Let them sit together to discuss with them the possible ways these things can be combated. They are living in the forest. Maybe they know where these criminals are hiding. Maybe they can give useful information. So, if the government takes them into confidence and works closely with their leadership, I am sure this thing will go away, or at least be drastically reduced.
Is it not strange that Fulani will be attacking Fulani because some are criminals and others are pastoralists?
Does a criminal discriminate between tribe and religion? Not at all. It is a common interest. And the criminals are not only Fulanis. If you go to the forest, among the criminals, you find the Hausas, you find the Fulanis, you even find some Igbos involved in the drugs and arms business. So, there is nobody you don’t find in crime in Nigeria today. It is a common interest that doesn’t discriminate between tribe and religion.
Fulani attacking Fulani in Katsina is very common. Fulanis as farmers on one side, Fulanis as pastoralists on the other side. They are fighting each other in Katsina, losing a lot of lives. It is also happening in Zamfara, among the Fulanis themselves. And sometimes among the Fulanis and the Hausas, to the extent that you cannot differentiate who is who. They fight among themselves because of complications, interests, and misunderstandings.
Because of the delicacy of the issue, the matter has become so complex that, to me, there has to be an evolution of a community-based approach towards solving these issues. Let all the stakeholders who are involved in this crisis be allowed to define their own peace.
By the time you do that, get the leadership of even the bandits, if you can reach their leadership. Get the leadership of the pastoralists, the leadership of the association, the traditional rulers, the community stakeholders, the non-state actors like the Amotekun security corps, the vigilante groups, and whatever other community organisations exist. Get all the leaders of those concerned to sit together and define their own peace.
By the time you collect all this information, roles will be made clear for every functionary to perform. The roles of the traditional rulers will become clear. The roles of the religious groups will become clear. The roles of government and all the security agencies will also become clear. Even the role of the association will become very clear. Because everyone will be complaining: ‘This one has done this to me, that is why I am doing this to him.’
Let there be a community-based approach towards solving this problem. Let all those who are concerned in the crisis be allowed to define their own peace by themselves. By the time you do this, collect all the inputs and grievances, you will definitely get workable solutions. This is what we believe in, and this is what I personally believe in.
The formation of the Ministry of Livestock, both at the federal and state levels, will it actually bring solutions to the farmers-herders problem?
It will, certainly. The problem we are still facing is that the ministry is still new. It is trying to settle down. It was just created, only a few months ago. It is still at the stage of trying to find its feet and settle down properly.
And you know, establishing a new institution is always a Herculean task. You have to get the office accommodation, you have to get the right departments that should be created, you have to get the right staffing, the right funding, and what have you. But in totality, we believe in it. Because all that we have been complaining about in the past years is that government attention has been focused on agronomy, while neglecting the livestock sector for decades. Today, a ministry is being created. And not only at the national level, but over 19 states have also keyed into it to create their own ministries of livestock.
Imagine the huge investment that is going to be injected there. Huge amounts of money are going to come into that sector. Employment is going to be created for veterinary doctors, for pasture producers, for livestock processors, for milk processors, and for many other professionals.
The entire value chain is now going to be reactivated fully for the benefit of the entire country. And it is not done for the pastoralists alone. It is done for poultry farmers, it is done for pig farmers, it is done for even dog farmers, it is also done for them.
Every livestock sub-sector is involved in the ministry. So, this is an institution that is going to turn around the entire livestock production system in the country. We believe the potential that is involved there will now be tapped for the interest of the entire nation, not only for the pastoralists.
As I told you, employment will be created. Even now, we have started witnessing a lot of states coming up with modern meat-processing abattoirs that have the capacity of processing 500 to 1,000 cows on a daily basis. Where are these cows coming from? These are ventures that can empower youth and create jobs.
You can come, patent two or three cows, take them to the abattoir, where they are sold at a high cost. All this middleman activity is going to be cut off. So, everybody is going to get the right benefit for their product directly.
We believe that with the coming of the ministry, things are going to be solved gradually. And it is not only transforming the economic aspect. Even peace-building is also inclusive in its objectives.
The ministry is engaging in activities that will solve the non-kinetic measure aspect of the crisis. While the security forces are going with the kinetic measures, arrests, patrols, and force, the ministry will come up with non-kinetic measures that can stimulate employment, that can stimulate the psyche of the people, that can sensitise communities with the use of associations like ours, so that awareness can be created among the pastoralists to understand the modernised system of animal husbandry, unlike before. Because while we are living in this era of development, these guys are still living in the past, practising the primitive system of animal husbandry they inherited from their forefathers as the only option they know to survive.
They are not doing it as a matter of choice. They are doing it as a necessity because there is no other option for them. Because this is how they learned to do it from their forefathers.
Where do pastoralists look for free fodder to feed the animals? Because his own survival depends on the animals’ survival. If the animals are not there, he does not survive; he dies. So that is why it is very, very important.
We believe the ministry will address the non-kinetic aspect of the crisis by creating awareness. Let the pastoralists know that today, there are breeds of cows that can weigh 1,000 kilograms against the ones that are weighing a maximum of 200 or 300 kilograms. Let the pastoralists know that today, there are cows that can give an output of milk of about 50 litres per cow per day, against the ones that are giving just 3 to 5 litres of milk per day, because we are still operating with the outstandingly low local breeds that give out very little output of meat and milk.
So, if the trade can be modernised, if they can be educated, they will definitely venture into it. Who wants to suffer in life? They also want to enjoy life like people in the city. But because this is their only source of livelihood and their entire way of life, they are compelled to continue as they are. For them, finding food for themselves and for their households depends on keeping their animals alive. Their own survival depends on the survival of their livestock.
So, let the public know clearly that they are not doing it as a matter of choice; they are doing it as a matter of necessity because there is no other option available to them apart from that.
