We have a big problem on our hands with this grazing/farmers issue. We are used to easy problems but this one won’t be soft, chiefly because the average Nigerian has a large ego. But I think the fundamental thing is to accept that the growth in population and continued food poverty in the land has vitiated this idea of herding cattle all around the country. It will not be easy to change an age-long culture I admit but the opposite is even more costly by far. In one of my researches, I saw that Tanzania seized and auctioned 1,300 cows that strayed into its territory from Kenya in October 2017, while the herders ran away. They had been warning the Maasais of Kenya not to herd cattle in their territory but the herders were forced to, in search of grazing when the season was dry. Same issues. Only that in Nigeria it’s about bloodbath.
3. What do we do about the high cost of meat? On what basis is the price of cows determined? Is it ‘market forces’? Do we believe in that nonsense that one day a man went into the market with N200,000 looking for a cow to buy anyhow, or did the cattle cartel set the price? Can we reduce that price and get rid of excess stock? The market for cattle is imperfect for several reasons. The fact is that it is always a sellers’ market. I went to Uganda and realized that beef is infinitely cheaper than in Nigeria. Is it time to speak with the cattle-owners and ask them to pity Nigerians?
4. Given the video from Ghana which shows the Ghanaian Police taking a war stand specifically against Fulani herders (even though there are Hausas and Fulanis who are citizens of Ghana), we can see that the Fulani herders have an undeniable continental problem – which may actually berth majorly in Nigeria like everything else does. This means that we need to at some point, deal with the problem of Fulani exceptionalism, by which the people see themselves as a borderless tribe with fierce mutual/tribal loyalty. The Fulanis are called upon to talk to themselves and not take a hard stance on this as such a stance could destroy Africa. We are at the epoch where a culture must change or keep us all in the dark past. The issue of ranching becomes secondary. The fact is that the Fulanis as a tribe that spans almost the whole of Africa in one form or the other (though there are related tribes like the Barabaig of Tanzania, can undo the entire continent if these issues are not well managed. How do we solve that problem beyond kicking the can and sweeping stuff under the carpet? To make matters worse, Nigeria is a country with an exceptionalism problem and that is very dangerous. Many tribes in Nigeria actually have this idea that they are special and better than the rest. It’s not looking good at all, as all these large egos are set to collide with very coruscating effects – in a bad way.
5. Most Nigerians also prejudge issues from primordial perspectives. That is why all of a sudden this is a religious issue. The Tutsis who are arguably of Fulani stock (at least in looks and body shape, check out Paul Kagame) in Rwanda, Uganda, Congo, and DR Congo, are actually Christians. So also the Dinkas of South Sudan, the Maasai of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, the Barabaig of Tanzania, So in order to solve this issue, a clear mind is required, devoid of biases. This is not helped though by voices such as Dr Nazifi Darma of the Area Consultative Forum as well as many of our Pastors. Though all sides have lost many human beings now is not the time to escalate the bad blood else we will all pay dearly.
6. We may have been able to reduce the intensity of the clashes – and the coming ones – if only African leaders had done well and have been imaginative and honest enough to develop the people and not just their pockets. Nigeria is a particularly pathetic case in this regard. Decades of misgovernance got us here, where we are having Fulani/Farmers clashes in Adamawa, Benue, Taraba and elsewhere, and governors are issuing Fatwas that they don’t want to see these herders. At the same time, there are many simmering inter and intra-tribal wars all over Nigeria. One could conclude that indeed the people are hungry. Only hungry people are so angry to pick up arms and slaughter each other at every little provocation.
So we need this methodical approach of layering and delayering the problem, and situating each layer where they belong. We must not lump up the issues, or bring in our own biases. I listened to Fani-Kayode speak among his Igbo in-laws the other day and I was afraid. Orators are dangerous when their minds are infected. This was a man who rubbished the Igbo just some months ago, now swearing fire and brimstone about the country because things didn’t go his way? Most of us have not been a tenth as lucky as this man, but his type are ready to burn Nigeria down. I hope Buhari is not totally losing control.
I conclude that this problem of herders/farmers is also mirrored in other aspects of our social interaction today. Our misunderstanding of our sociology within context, has led to a shrinking of our Cocoa in the south west to the extent that Ivory Coast, Ghana, Malaysia, and even Cameroun are edging us out. No one is replanting the Cocoa of the 1950s. Nigeria never plans ahead. But how was Ivory Coast able to do theirs; producing 10 times what we have here? This same problem has led to the fact that we now import Palm Oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, and is responsible for our mismanagement of our crude oil resource and the death of our industries (which are replaced by religious houses), among other problems. Other countries all over Africa seem to be solving this herder problem better than we are in this country. Positions are hardened here and egos are too large. How come it’s only in Nigeria that we hear of heavily armed herders. Elsewhere it’s not like that. Something is fishy.
My own immediate call is for our governments to just become responsible. Governance has to go back to the villages where they belong. For some reason our leaders understand governance to mean being ensconced in some plush palaces in some capital city. While we have such conflagrations in the country, our leaders take delight in traveling all over the world at the drop of a hat. That is not how to solve this crisis. Nigeria is becoming one huge conflagration and a total mess as things stand.
I have hereby provided some references for these touchy issues so that we know what is happening elsewhere.
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