I read on February 18, 2018 issue of Daily Post where Professor Ango Abdullahi is defending killings by Fulani herdsman around the country. He is insisting that they are killing people who are about to kill them. That it is justified killings in the name of self-defense. I can understand an illiterate making such comment but not from a former university professor, former vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University and current spokesman for Northern Elder’s Forum. It is unfortunate and demoralizing to hear such statement from somebody who should know better. He did not stop there. He went on to compare Fulani herdsmen right to graze across Nigeria to Igbo people’s right to go anywhere in the country and set up business.
Comparism of Igbo business people having right to set up businesses around the country and Fulani herdsmen grazing their cattle across Nigeria made no sense since it is like comparing apples to oranges. It is true that Igbos are able to set up their businesses in any part of the country. To set up business in any part of the country requires renting a space from the landlord or buying a land to build your store. If a store is rented, the tenant pays rent each month or yearly to the landlord. So, the Igbo businessman or woman do obtain permission from the landlord to conduct his or business. In some cases, they are required to get permit from the government depending on where the business is situated.
On the other hand, the Fulani herdsman roams around the country with their cattle and graze along the roads and private land in some instance without permission. When the owners of the private land protests, the herdsmen attack them with weapon and either maim or killed the land owner or whoever points out to them that what they are doing is wrong. Getting into someone’s property without permission is called trespass at the minimum. So comparing the activities of the two groups holds no water.
Fulani herdsman are engaged in farming business. Raising a cow is animal farming just like raising chicken, goat or sheep. I used to graze goats and sheep when I was a teen in Nigeria for neighbors and they compensate me with money or food sometimes. I usually graze the owners land or neighbors land if the owner of the sheep and goat got permission from the land owner. Fulani herdsmen contribute a lot to the economy of the country from their cattle business and provide much needed meat which provides protein which Nigerian’s need for existence.
Grazing across Nigeria is a culture that has outlived its usefulness. Even advanced countries around the world started grazing like the Fulani herdsmen are doing now but had to change with time. What they did is to recognize that they are engaged in animal farming business and started treating it as such. In United States and other advanced countries, farmers are permitted to graze on government land provided they pay fees to the federal government. Other farmers build cattle barns and buy food (dead grasses) for their cows and add the cost to the prize of their cows.
Building colonies around the country for herdsmen is not the solution. They can buy land, build barns and buy food for their cattle and add the cost to the prize of the cattle. It is the way it is done in most places currently. Grazing of cows around the country is out of date. Governments can help the herdsmen procure lands around the country. Fulani herdsmen has a right to buy land and raise their cattle in any part of the country. What they do not have is the right to graze on private property.
It is difficult to change ancient ways of doing things, but the herdsmen have no other viable choice but to change with the time and treat their business as cattle rearing farming. In the southern part of Nigeria, we use to let our chickens, goats, sheep and cows to roam around in the Southern part of the country but that is not quite the case now. Our current president, Buhari owns several cows but he has appropriate barns for his cows. He buys food for his cattle and feeds them in their barns and adds the cost to the prize of the cow. The owners of the cows can do the same and put an end to the senseless killings around the country.