A former Minister of Interior, retired Lt-Gen Abdulrahman Dambazau, has called for urgent cleanup of weapons and drug among the Fulani youth as part of practical solutions to the ugly trend of kidnapping in the country.
Dambazau made the call in his paper, titled “Dilemma of the Fulbe pastoralist,” presented at the Pastoralists and Fulbe Security Conference, in Abuja.
The conference is with the theme: “Exploring the contemporary challenges facing pastoralism and Fulbe with a view of proffering workable solution in curbing insecurity across the nation.”
It was jointly organised by Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) and Northern Consensus Movement (NCM).
The former minister stressed the need for urgent practical solutions to kidnapping by the Fulbe youth that leads to a daily loss of lives and destruction of properties.
According to him, one of the steps should be blocking of access to weapons and clean up all the weapons already in circulation within Fulbe pastoralist youth environment.
“We must also clean up the stable, and by this, I mean, with the help of the NDLEA, the society must work on the drug abuse among the Fulbe pastoralist youth,” he said.
He noted with concern that drug traffickers had targeted the Fulbe youth and there was high rate of drug abuse among them, which must be decisively dealt with.
According to him, in order to deter the criminals among the Fulbe pastoralist communities, it is important that the criminal justice system comes strong against all those arrested for such violent crimes.
He said that they should be prosecuted and if found guilty, be subjected to maximum punishment.
“We must ensure justice and pursue human capital development that would improve the education and health of the Fulbe pastoralist to open more opportunities for him for self-development in the society.
“To do this, access to quality education and healthcare facilities should be provided for the Fulbe pastoralists, in addition to skills acquisition,” he said
Danbazzau, who said the Fulbe pastoralist community had been isolated for long said that their integration into mainstream of society should be given priority.
He also called for the implementation of government’s National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) approved in 2019, an attempt to modernize livestock rearing, would provide the foundation upon which the integration would be mounted. (NAN)
