Apparently fed up with the incessant clashes involving them and farmers over grazing areas, some 12 million Fulani cattlemen have stated that their right to fend for themselves and their livestock as citizens of Nigeria are being infringed upon across many states because of their age-long nomadic way of life.

Consequently, they have now formed themselves into social groups to demand that the federal government address the issue of food security and grazing rights in the country, with a view to securing grazing land rights for the Fulani nationwide.

Commending the northern governors for setting up a committee to wade into the crisis between farmers and herdsmen, one of the seven groups, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association of Nigeria, asked that the committee’s work be extended to southern states where they also face grazing challenges.

The association lamented that 12 million Fulani herdsmen were currently living under the fear of losing their means of livelihood, as clashes between them and farmers continue to escalate especially in Plateau, Taraba and Kaduna States. The cattlemen said they were being arrested or expelled from their homes and settlements by the authorities.

In an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP WEEKEND, the protem national secretary of the association, Saleh Bayari, said: “The Fulani man has been at the receiving end of insecurity in this country. To say that the Fulani are marginalised is an understatement. There are 12 million cattle rearers whose children are not in school.”

Also, the executive director, Pastoral Resolve, Sale Momale, stated that “the challenges being faced by Fulani cattlemen have gone unattended to by all tiers of government for many years because of discrimination against them. The fact is that they are in remote rural areas and their high level of illiteracy makes it hard for them make formal complaints under the modern system of government.”

While desertification is forcing them to migrate southward, Bayari said: Fulani cattlemen do not have children as councillors, that is, at the lowest level of the political strata. They do not have a chairman of a local government or member of a house of assembly. They virtually have nobody in government.”

Debunking claims that Fulani have been the aggressors in some of the clashes involving them and farmers, Bayari said: “There is nobody who rears animals that wants conflict. Conflicts destroy lives, including the lives of animals. So, it is always very difficult for the Fulani person to go into any agitation that will at the end of the day hurt his livestock. He would prefer to suffer deprivation of all kinds than engage in armed conflict that will not spare his livestock.”

He stressed that the conflicts were taking a huge toll on the Fulani’s economic wellbeing.

The federal government, he alleged,“ has never sat down to address food security like other countries do. In Nigeria, thunder would strike a Fulani person and kill about 200 of his cattle. Flood, ethnic or religious crisis also continue to decimate the Fulani’s cattle without any compensation from government.

“That is what happened in Plateau where we lost about 3.5 million heads of cattle in the crises between September 2001 and January 17, 2010. Within a period of 10 years, we lost 3.5 million heads of cattle and nobody is talking about it; not Plateau State or the federal government.”

Bayari added: “You can imagine how much we have lost, even at N100,000 per cow which is the average cost. This is money that can take care of 5 to 10 million people. If the federal government had addressed the issue of food security in this country, then, the Fulani man would have come to the fore.

“But I think the government has begun to feel the pulse and realise that if something is not done, this country could erupt, in the sense that if you deprive 12 million people of their means of livelihood, then, you should be prepared for a very serious situation. We are beginning to see some people make some efforts.”

Momale said: “Discrimination against the pastoralists cuts across all tiers of government, even at the village and district levels. The modern system introduced since the colonial times gives priority to a formalised system for laying out grievances, which favours the educated elite.

“In 1990, only 0.02 percent of the pastoralists were literate. By 2005, after 15 years of nomadic education, their literacy level stood at 2 per cent. Right now, according to the Federal Ministry of Education, the Fulani pastoralists have three million children that are out school.

“With this level of illiteracy and the complexity of governance, they have nowhere to lay their complaint. The only government they know is the village head and the village head cannot influence policy. He has no say in the affairs of government. And with a government that is not concerned with reaching out to its citizens, you can understand why the problems of the Fulani have gone unresolved.”

http://leadership.ng/nga/articles/34438/2012/09/08/12m_fulani_herdsmen_demand_land_rights_36_states.html

they are stup1d, are they nigerians? or is it because we have not discussed our terms of being 1 country with niger and chad

[size=28pt]Gambari and Fulani should learn livestock farming and grow grass within the confines of their own states and stop their stupid nomadic vagabond life trespassing farmlands in other states. [/size]

why blame the govt for the poor education amongs the fulanis? even when schools are a throwing distance to their abode they still refuse it and rationalise it as western instrument to impose christainity on them, so why complain of marginalisation.

These guys are ready to finish Nigerians!!!

12 million cattle rearers indeed! What is the number of cows?

Banding uncorroborated figures is a major past time these days!

They should also extend their demand to all the countries in the world. You're demanding your papa land. DEmand that thing come near my village, na your head you go begin demand.

Uncivilized people, who have been brainwashed to believing that they are superior to fellow Nigerians, simply because the said fellow citizens are nomads, are exposing themselves again. You people on the one hand cry all over NL that you are being marginalized and cheated e.t.c, and on the other hand you want to deny your fellow citizens equal rights under the law. SMH @ ignoramuses

ndu_chucks: Uncivilized people, who have been brainwashed to believing that they are superior to fellow Nigerians, simply because the said fellow citizens are nomads, are exposing themselves again. You people on the one hand cry all over NL that you are being marginalized and cheated e.t.c, and on the other hand you want to deny your fellow citizens equal rights under the law. SMH @ ignoramuses

How can you deny someone of something that does not belong to them. If they need land, they should buy it like many Igbo men are doing throughout Nigeria.

afam4eva:
How can you deny someone of something that does not belong to them. If they need land, they should buy it like many Igbo men are doing throughout Nigeria.

Your view of the problem at hand is quite simplistic. A lasting solution would probably need to contain the designation of certain federal land which would cut across several state, as "Herding Zone". This kind of zoning will go a long way in addressing the Fulani/Local conflicts which have increased nation-wide lately. It would keep you people away from encroaching on Fulani historical territories and check your sprawling.

ndu_chucks:

Your view of the problem at hand is quite simplistic. A lasting solution would probably need to contain the designation of certain federal land which would cut across several state, as "Herding Zone". This kind of zoning will go a long way in addressing the Fulani/Local conflicts which have increased nation-wide lately. It would keep you people away from encroaching on Fulani historical territories and check your sprawling.

How about trading zone for the Igbo traders throughout the country. What do you think?

ndu_chucks:

Your view of the problem at hand is quite simplistic. A lasting solution would probably need to contain the designation of certain federal land which would cut across several state, as "Herding Zone". This kind of zoning will go a long way in addressing the Fulani/Local conflicts which have increased nation-wide lately. It would keep you people away from encroaching on Fulani historical territories and check your sprawling.

what do you mean by this?

afam4eva:
How about trading zone for the Igbo traders throughout the country. What do you think?

Make your case for the trading zone and lets see if it would benefit Nigeria. In the meantime lets focus on the topic at hand, but if you open a thread on this trading zone of yours, I'll read the thread.

@asha 80, many of the Fulani vs locals conflicts are triggered by urban sprawling. Please read up some of the conflicts in say, Jos area.

ndu_chucks:

Your view of the problem at hand is quite simplistic. A lasting solution would probably need to contain the designation of certain federal land which would cut across several state, as "Herding Zone". This kind of zoning will go a long way in addressing the Fulani/Local conflicts which have increased nation-wide lately. It would keep you people away from encroaching on Fulani historical territories and check your sprawling.

guy you are a bastard

ndu_chucks:

Make your case for the trading zone and lets see if it would benefit Nigeria. In the meantime lets focus on the topic at hand, but if you open a thread on this trading zone of yours, I'll read the thread.

@asha 80, many of the Fulani vs locals conflicts are triggered by urban sprawling. Please read up some of the conflicts in say, Jos area.

only god knows what an indigenous plateau man would make of your statement.i guess the territories are only the north.

Ogbonaikenna: guy you are a bastard

mumu Ogbonaikenna, note the following: O bialu be onye abiagbuna ya, mgbe o ga-ala mkpumkpu apukwana ya n'azu

asha 80:

only god knows what an indigenous plateau man would make of your statement.i guess the territories are only the north.

Not really, I think areas which could be designated "Fulani Reservations" which carves out the natural paths of the Fulani herdsmen from North to South, East to West, would be beneficial to all if done properly. This could actually prevent you people from provoking the nomads to dagger you, since they have no other means to convince you to be respectful of their way of life.

ndu_chucks:

Not really, I think areas which could be designated "Fulani Reservations" which carves out the natural paths of the Fulani herdsmen from North to South, East to West, would be beneficial to all if done properly. This could actually prevent you people from provoking the nomads to dagger you, since they have no other means to convince you to be respectful of their way of life.

rubbish talk as usual.

Those who fail to embrace changes and modernise often become relics of the past. Nomadic cattle rearing in 21st century, akin to hunter-gatherer of stone age.

The Fulani cattle rearers, whether they 12 million or 120 million should embrace cattle ranch and animal husbandry or go into extinction. Nigerians will not missed them!

ndu_chucks:

mumu Ogbonaikenna, note the following: O bialu be onye abiagbuna ya, mgbe o ga-ala mkpumkpu apukwana ya n'azu

nna aa were ya nwayoo.you are defending dis fulanis,do you hav interest in there catles

that Saleh Momale is sick in d head or just fooolish. he concocted up lies and misapplied facts. so who is responsible for the Fulanis low literacy? and Isnt Usman Nafada, d immediate past deputy speaker of NA, a Fulani from Nafada LGA of Gombe State? ...so y d lie dt their kins have never come near elective positions? what abt Gen. M'hd Buhari....isnt he of Fulani stock? Yar' adua?...is he now a Yoruba or Igbo? what abt so much money dt has gone down drain under MAMSER, SAP, and many other special programmes targeted at educating d nomadic Fulani?

I dont stand for subjugation of any tribe, but i believe that demands should be reasonable and sustainable.

d guy should tell his people to wake up to reality of d modern society and adjust, not d society adjusting for them.

adaifeoma:
nna aa were ya nwayoo.you are defending dis fulanis,do you hav interest in there catles

He's Hausa/Fulani and not Igbo.

adaifeoma:
nna aa were ya nwayoo.you are defending dis fulanis,do you hav interest in there catles

he is a northerner.

These people should shut the hell up already, rearing cattle is their personal business NOT community business. When a Nigerian goes into the market, he/she doesn't dance to a music and get the beef for free. Other forms of livestock rearing, you do not see them invading other people territory claiming "their right to fend for themselves and their livestock as citizens of Nigeria are being infringed upon".

Even the Constitution that recognizes their alienated right of freedom of movement still recognizes land rights, usage, and even have severe consequence for unlawful trespassing. If they cannot continue their cattle rearing, THEY SHOULD QUIT, Nigerians will ALWAYS find alternatives.

Can you people stick with issues rather than personalities and anonymous screen names? I'd appreciate it immensely if you'd stop trying to pidgeon hole me into belonging to one tribe or the other. What objections do you have to what I've posted and why do you not see the benefit of the said designated "Herding Zone", "Fulani Reserves", "Nomadic Xing", or whatever you prefer to call the, soon to be created, federally reserved territory?

I think their right of having a land for their cattle to graze upon should be granted. We should stop being myopic and should try focusing on the real issue. All of us here are talking about they should accept modernity by sending their kids to school or stop rearing. Let me ask, most Nigerians are now complaining on the price increase for a loaf of bread in Lagos. If the Fulani herdsmen should accept modernity, how much do you think a pound of meat will cost at the market: There will be high increase in Kwashiokor due to inability for a common man to afford meat.

It's high time we started thinking like educated people, like we claimed to be , instead of having ethnic sentiments overshadow our rational thoughts.

donedy: I think their right of having a land for their cattle to graze upon should be granted. We should stop being myopic and should try focusing on the real issue. All of us here are talking about they should accept modernity by sending their kids to school or stop rearing. Let me ask, most Nigerians are now complaining on the price increase for a loaf of bread in Lagos. If the Fulani herdsmen should accept modernity, how much do you think a pound of meat will cost at the market: There will be high increase in Kwashiokor due to inability for a common man to afford meat.

It's high time we started thinking like educated people, like we claimed to be , instead of having ethnic sentiments overshadow our rational thoughts.

what is wrong in grazing lands in the north?

why cant the fulanis buy lands for grazing afterall they make billions from sales of cows and nigerians buy them its not as if we get them for free, its buisness and not an act of patriotism. live stock farmers dont go about asking govt to give them land around the country for poutry or fish farming so why cow.

bashr8: why cant the fulanis buy lands for grazing afterall they make billions from sales of cows and nigerians buy them its not as if we get them for free, its buisness and not an act of patriotism. live stock farmers dont go about asking govt to give them land around the country for poutry or fish farming so why cow.

For the first time in your entire NL career, you made a reasonable post.

Malam _chucks, please give a reasonable answer.

Orikinla: [size=28pt]Gambari and Fulani should learn livestock farming and grow grass within the confines of their own states and stop their stupid nomadic vagabond life trespassing farmlands in other states. [/size]

Spot on. What right do they have to trespass on other people's property anyway?

excondido: why blame the govt for the poor education amongs the fulanis?

You highlighted the one thing that ran through my mind when reading the article. Whose to blame for Fulani herdsmen children poor education? Is it the parents fault or the government's fault? If we have multiple schools all over Nigeria, each citizen of this nation having the right to attend either one even if it's not within your region, why wouldn't they just take advantage of such. They want land rights in each state and believe it's there God given right to ask for such but they do not feel they have the right to send their children to school in each of these states. SMH. There are many things Nigerian government should be blamed upon but I noticed we blame them for everything including parental ignorance.

As for the rest of the article. Bashr8 hit it perfectly. The meat are not for free, they make money from it so if they wish to maintain an outdated way of live-stock, why not just buy lands in these states like everyone else does.