How insecurity threatens Niger’s Bobi Grazing Reserve

With the conception of the Bobi Grazing Reserve in the sleepy community of Bobi in Mariga LGA of Niger State, many agricultural experts believed it would bring relief to difficulties in livestock business, especially cattle rearing, not only in the state, but other parts of Northern Nigeria.

The reserve, which covers about 36,000 hectares, is one of the abandoned legacies of the late Sardauna of Sokoto and Premier of Northern Nigeria, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello,

The reserve cuts across Mariga and Magama LGAs and was aimed to establish a model grazing reserve where farmers and agri-businesses would have vast livestock resources to boost meat and dairy production, as well as reduce farmers/herders clashes.

The reserve, by original concept, had potential for $45bn investment and was expected to house dairy giants such as West African Milk Company (WAMCO); producers of Peak Milk, CAMPINA and Chi Ltd.

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It attracted several investors within and outside Nigeria, including from Brazil, Hungary, Netherlands, India and Pakistan, who have pedigree in livestock and dairy production.

It was hoped that a plan to import a special breed of cattle to enhance local production would assist herders and the state to boost revenue generation and livelihoods.

But since the outgoing government of Abubakar Sani Bello started the revamping in 2016, a period when many people believed farmers and herders’ conflicts were highly recorded across the country, the project has also been hindered by incessant bandits’ attacks in the area.

In fact, a report by the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW), released in January, 2023, noted that the North Central geopolitical zone remained a hotbed for farmers/herders conflicts, adding that 71 clashes were recorded between 2015 and 2021, resulting in 49 deaths.

In January, 2021, Gov Bello told journalists that the aim of the reserve was to enhance the capacity of herders and improve their economic strength.

He said, “We are also looking at it from the security point of view. We want to address the farmers/herders’ conflict. So, we try to encourage some form of ranching to allow our herders to stay in one place. We have built schools, dams, and there are pasture and veterinary services. So, they would have no reason to move cattle over 100km from the North to the South. That will reduce drastically the amount of conflicts between farmers and herders.

“On the economic side, it will increase the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), empower people and create jobs.”

Bello also said that the dam that was constructed in the reserve had capacity for 20 million litres to provide water to cows, irrigation and fishing.

He said 3,000 hectares was cultivated for pasture for cattle, adding that a crossbreeding programme was also introduced for milk and beef.

But despite these efforts, the incessant invasion of the reserve by bandits has remained a bane to the successful take off of the project.

Findings by Daily Trust revealed that in 2021, the reserve was attacked twice. It was attacked once in 2022. The three attacks resulted in loss of lives, including one of the security operatives, while hundreds of cattle were rustled.

The Permanent Secretary, Niger State Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, Dr Ibrahim Garba, who spoke with Daily Trust through the Director, Grazing Reserves and Range Management in the ministry, Dr Baba Ibrahim, said that during the attacks 1,053 cows were rustled.

He said, Bobi Grazing Reserve is one of the 23 grazing reserves in Niger State inherited from the Sir Ahmadu Bello era, with about 36,000 hectares. When the outgoing government came on board in 2015, the state decided to key into the National Livestock Transformation Plan in 2016 and began the revamping of the Bobi Grazing Reserve.”

Dr Garba said infrastructure like schools, dams, pastures, police outposts, primary healthcare, veterinary clinics and roads had been put in place.

He noted that, “The major challenge initially was funding, because the state couldn’t access money from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and so it had to use its limited resources to put in place the necessary infrastructure. But the bigger challenge we later faced was the security challenge which is yet to be surmounted.”

He further said that while the outgoing government had already provided several critical infrastructure to make the reserve habitable for the pastoralists and stop them from moving from one place to another, the incoming government needed to sustain the project to stop the recurring farmers/herders conflict.

He said, “If they are in one place, the conflict will drastically reduce.”

Dr Garba lamented that the state had been losing a lot because of attacks by bandits in the area.

He said, “All these multinational milk companies that were in the reserve had been forced to leave because of insecurity. The land we gave them was on lease; they would pay for the land and whatever activity they are going to do there, there would be revenue for the government. We have lost that one. And what we are losing again is the improvement upon our local livestock production. The plan we had was to improve on the current livestock that we have so that we can have more meat and milk.

“Also, we have already purchased equipment worth millions of naira. So, if we don’t continue, the equipment will be wasted.”

One of the security operatives who was deployed to the reserve when the three attacks happened confirmed to our correspondent that a police station, school and other facilities were put in place by both the state government and investors, but that these efforts were being threatened by attacks.

He said, “We were stationed in various sites where investors were working. During one of those attacks, a worker was killed at a site belonging to Chi Ltd. When they came back a second time, they killed five people in a village close to the reserve. In 2021, we recorded one casualty on the part of security operatives deployed to guard the reserve and investors.

“When they launched an attack for the third time in 2022, there were only few casualties on the part of civilian workers. We security operatives escaped but they burnt two of our Hilux vans and stole some of our motorcycles. For the third time that they came, we heard that they were coming, they were already in a village called Wuro, about two kilometres from our camp. We laid ambush for them on the route they initially intended to follow to our camp but their informants informed them of our move and they changed the route. So, when we learnt that they had changed the route, and we left the location where we laid ambush for them, they attacked us. It was only God who saved us that day because they came in their large numbers.”

Residents said the government was at a point forced to close down the reserve to re-assess the situation before it was reopened for operations.

However, experts believe that the reserve is important to the fortunes of the state in terms of revenue generation and security and must be sustained by the incoming administration.

They also believe that settling pastoralists in the reserve will afford them the opportunity to also engage in crop production.

Professor Muhammad Kuta Yahaya, an agricultural extension and development communication expert and member of the Governorship Transition Committee, while commending the outgoing government for the initiative, said the indigenous investors should have been engaged instead of foreign investors.

He said, “The intentions about Bobi Grazing Reserve are pure. However, there is much concern from experts and interested stakeholders because the investment on foreign partners is not only a misplaced priority but an attempt to give your exploiter the opportunity to continue to exploit you. We have indigenous companies that can be contracted.’’