Tedheke: It Is fure in the chiledrem

Professor Moses Tedheke is a Senior Lecturer and former Head of Department of Political Science and Defence Studies, Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA). In this interview with SAXONE AKHAINE, he spoke on the problems of cattle rustling, killings and communal clashes in some parts of the North, blaming the situation on poverty and unemployment.

Cattle rustling have remained a recurring problem in the Northwest. Added to this is the invasion of communities by bandits killing and destroying properties. What could be responsible for this development?
Well, my impression about cattle rustling, the killings that are involved in it and the invasion of some parts of the country, especially the Northwest, Benue State and other parts of North Central, is that they are part of the revolutionary pressures that we have refused as a nation to address. Claude Ake had addressed this revolutionary pressure in a whole book, where he talked about the revolutionary pressure in Africa. Armed robbery, Niger Delta militancy, Boko Haram and the Fulani herdsmen attacks and killings in communities are part of it. They are all part of these revolutionary pressures we are talking about and we as a country have failed to take a holistic approach, which is a grand strategic calculation in trying to tackle our problems. We are only looking at them atomistically.  That is, we look at them separately and detaching them from the source of the crisis we are facing as a nation. All these things are crises of poverty. Somebody has said it all, that the poverty in the Sahel and so on are devastating and hindering development. The Boko Haram crisis for instance, much intense as it is, if the Lake Chad had not dried up, we won’t be facing the problem. Infact, Gowon said that if Lake Chad is drying up that they have to recharge the Lake Chad. Who had done anything about the Lake Chad till today?

As regards cattle rustling, there is supposed to be a national policy in Nigeria addressing issues in this direction. There is no national policy as we speak towards the provision of grazing areas for cattle owners. And so, if we provide grazing areas for owners, these cattle rustling should have been nipped in the bud effectively. They should have situated people in a particular places and they should have been able to identify people as they come around, stay around and so on. But, in a situation whereby we are too clever for nothing and refuse to develop all the infrastructures that are necessary, then we will continue to witness the present ugly situations across the country. We have neglected that and then created a situation whereby even the cattle owners, nobody knows them, and then now we are claiming that they are foreigners from other parts of the neighbouring countries that invade the country and do this and that. Because of our laziness, we are giving excuses. Because we cannot plan we are giving excuses towards our failure to plan. So, that is where the problem is. We should not atomise them, we should look around the whole problems that are creating crisis for us in the country; and we should see that it is a failure of the Nigerian State. Right from Independence till today the Nigerian State has not taken real steps toward developmental transformation of this country and that is why we are having all these problems today.

Where do we start from in addressing this problem?
It is the problem of the Nigerian State. It is not the problem of the provinces we call states that should arrange for security against cattle rustling; it is the problem of the Nigerian Government. In Ethiopia for example, if a stranger is in any community, deep down from the rural community, signal is sent to the center in Addis Ababa. The police and soldiers there will know that a stranger is in the rural community in question. That is why Ethiopia with over 5,000 kilometers borders, Elshabab can never enter inside Ethiopia to bomb. Because if any stranger enters into any community today the signal and message will be sent to the center. We said we are the giant of Africa, this and that, but in security matters we are not there. That is the truth. And that is the problem we are facing today. And then we begin to hinge our problems on ethnicity, Fulani herdsmen, etc., when we are not making effort to address the problems of our internal security holistically. In fact, I wrote a paper and sent it through somebody to Mr. President that this is the security situation in Ethiopia and we should apply the same thing.

How were the Ethiopians able to do something about their internal security, they were able to do that because when the new government that overthrew Megistu Haile Mariam took over, they said from history, Ethiopia was a Christian country. But the new government said look, Ethiopia is a multi-religious country. And they have to solve that problem because it was a national security question. So, with that singular stroke of resolution, they were able to solve the religious question. When we look at the situation in Zamfara State, for instance, it is not the state government that can resolve the problem posed by the Fulani cattle rustlers, it is the police and soldiers in Zamfara that should address that problem because they are federal security institutions. So, we are placing security priority in a wrong place. In Ethiopia, it is the central government. So, we should adopt that measure because the police, soldiers and other security agents of the central government should have their ears to the ground in the rural areas.
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How will you react to the demand placed on Zamfara State Government to release of 400 cows that were rescue from the bandits?
That really shows that we have no security in this country, with all the apparatus to enforce law and order. That those thieves, cattle rustlers and other gunmen are placing demands shows the level of rots in the society. This is not only peculiar to Zamfara, the same thing is happening in Niger Delta and North East. We need to do something extra to strengthen our security in this country, otherwise we would be in serious trouble.

Historically, we were told that in Britain, that for 44 years there were killings everyday when they had similar challenge from 1644 to 1848. That is what history has given us. And in France, there were similar killings from 1789 to 1871. We also know that there were killings too in the Chinese areas through communal wars and so on. There were similar incidents in Latin America and Central America to be specific. What has stopped all these things in those places? It is development. I repeat it is development that stopped the history of wars and killings in those places. We cannot have our cake and eat it. The money that is meant for development that was pocketed by a few individuals is crime against humanity. As we are talking now, just only last year, the President of Colombia nationalised all the privatised oil companies and the Colombian economy jumped from 7,000 dollars per capita income to 14,000 dollars. This has made the standard of living of its people to rise. And because of the serious development that this has engendered, the 50 years of crisis and wars is coming to an end with the country the better for it.
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