Following what they described as challenges faced by pastoralists, Leaders of the Fulanis in Nigeria have issued a stern warning, threatening to stop the sales of livestock nationwide if their concerns are not addressed.
This was central in a Communique issued at the end of the Fulbe National Security Summit, organised by the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN).
The communique was presented by the National President of MACBAN, Baba Othman Ngelzarma.
Ngelzarma stated that pastoralists have been unfairly targeted for crimes in the country.
Leaders of Tabital Pulaaku International and Fulbe Global Development and Right Initiative joined Ngelzarma who alleged that the government has not made significant progress in addressing the root causes of the current conflict and the challenges faced by the Fulani community.
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He said that the Fulbe pastoralists do not enjoy Government patronage and are often made scapegoats for most atrocities.
He explained further that the Fulbe often suffer intimidation, segregation, molestation, and all forms of deprivation in the hands of Security Agents and Vigilantes groups thus forcing them out of their occupational livelihood and ancestral homes.
Reading the resolutions of the Communiqué, he said the Summit “acknowledged the passion and commitment of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu in addressing the security challenges by accepting to implement the recommendations of the Prof Attahiru Jega chaired the National Conference report on Farmer/Herder conflict organized by the then Executive Governor of Kano State – Dr Abdullahi Umar.
“The summit advised that membership of the implementation committee should consist of persons with the knowledge of the culture of the pastoralists.
“That the registered Fulbe socio-cultural groups and associations do not support any crime or criminality such as banditry, kidnapping and cattle rustling, as the Fulbe have also been the major victims.
“That the current security challenges confronting the country and especially the Fulbe communities ranging from banditry, kidnapping, socio-economic marginalization, youth restiveness, drug abuse, cattle rustling, and proliferation of arms should be addressed as a matter of urgency and the necessary need to integrate the Fulbe to the larger society through education and social interaction.
“That there has been resentment and wrong profiling of the Fulbe across the nation. The summit calls on the Government to partner Fulbe socio-cultural associations/opinion leaders andSecurity Agencies to curtail the current trajectories.
“The summit opined that the Fulbe pastoralist will be compelled to stop selling livestock across the nation if immediate action to curtail the current challenges by all tiers of Government are not addressed.
“The summit noted the serious encroachment and dilapidation of grazing reserves throughout the country and the need to channel resources arnd preserve them in all states where they exist, this is necessary in the view of the intent of settling of the entire pastoralists in the reserves for ranching-
The Summit also resolved that the committee constituted to implement the recommendations of the Oransanye Report, to consider as a necessity the retention of the National Commission for Nomadic Education as an Agency of the Federal Ministry of Education with specialised mandate of ensuring the delivery of functional basic education to nomadic communities.
“This is in consideration of a research report on out-of-school children in Nigeria, that 8 million out of over 10 million out-of-school children in the country are pastoralists children.
“Therefore, not retaining the commission with sufficient funding to educate the children is an eminent danger to our dear nation, the Communiqué said.
“Federal and State Governments should create Ministries of Animal Resources to enable the channeling of more resources towards developing the nation’s livestock industry to feed the nation’s ever growing population.
“All states should acknowledge that the pastoralists are citizens of this country protected by the Constitution and are only practicing their Occupational trade in their states and their movement are as provided by the ECOWAS trans-human protocol of 1998 of which Nigeria is a signatory.
“That there is a concern about the setting up of community guard/Vigilante groups by various state Governments that includes the local demography except the Fulbe pastoralists. In this regard, the summit appreciates and commend the Oyo state Government for being the only state
that included Fulanis in their vigilante grOup. Other state Governors are advised to emulate the footsteps of the Oyo state Governor for desired result.
“All participants agreed on the importance of education and called on all pastoralists to enroll their children into schools, especially nomadic education school in order to be productive in their future life and useful to humanity.
“The federal Government should revise and adopt a non-kinetic approach to ending banditry, kidnapping and cattle rustling, as the kinetic ways used over the years have only achieved very little result.
“That the trend in social media is further fueling the conflict and current challenges of the Fulanis, unfortunately the social media is not regulated. The hate speeches in the social media targeted at the Fulanis should be addressed by the Government”, the Communiqué added.
