HOW TO PERMANENTLY SOLVE THE FULANI HERDSMEN CRISIS WITHIN THREE MONTHS.

Fulani Herdsmen have become a nuisance to the Nigerian society and a major threat to the peace, stability and unity of Nigeria. It is high time we tackle this problem head-on and get rid of it once and for all. I believe these ideas when implemented will bring about a permanent solution to the Fulani Herdsmen crisis in Nigeria.

However, before we proceed, we have to look at why the crisis persist and why it will not be solved easily.

WHY FULANI HERDSMEN CRISIS PERSISTS AND WHY IT CANNOT BE SOLVED EASILY.

1. The lackadaisical attitude of the police to handle the crisis promptly. News flying all over the media reports that the police had pre-information about the plan of the herdsmen to attack the Enugu community but they did nothing to stop it.

2. Late response from the Federal Government to tackle the issue promptly. This is exactly how Boko Haram crisis started before it grew into a huge monster. The Federal Government, both the executive and legislative arms of government, have an attitude of waiting till things go out of hand before they tackle potential national crisis and this is bad for Nigerians. The Federal Government prefers late damage control system to damage prevention system.

3. Ethnic/Tribal resistance. If the government decides to deal ruthlessly with Fulani herdsmen, some Fulani leaders might start revolting. They might start branding the harsh treatment an attack on the north or an attack on the Fulani’s. Some Fulani politicians might even misadvise President Buhari on the matter, telling him not to take it too serious because the president is a Fulani man. The minister of interior has already taken this stance by complaining that social media over-exaggerates the Fulani Herdsmen crisis. This is not good for Nigerians at all.

4. Corruption: Some high ranking officials in the police and army might want to take advantage of the crisis to make money. Remember the “arms deal scandal?”

5. Impunity: It is in the subconscious of the herdsmen that the lives of their cows are more important than the lives of non-Fulani’s whose land they invade, maim and kill with no iota of human conscience or regard for law, usually because they always get away with it and the feeling that nothing can happen to them, especially now that their “brother” is the president.

6. Little or No Value for Human Life: It is obvious that the Federal Government, both the executive and legislative and our politicians does not value human lives. This is the ultimate reason why Fulani Herdsmen crisis will persist. Until we begin to value human lives, until we begin to realize that human lives matter more than the lives of cattle, we will never sole this crisis. The major reason politicians and the Federal Government do not act fast is because their family members are not yet victims. I believe that when a top politician’s mother, child, brother or family member is killed by Fulani Herdsmen, there will be multiple arrests within 24 hours which will eventually lead to end of such crisis. This is not good for Nigerians at all.

We cannot successfully deal with this crisis until we deal with the factors that makes it persists and will make any attempt to solve the problem fail. The armed forces, especially the police need to be more patriotic in their service to the nation. Both the executive and legislative arm of the Federal Government need to be more proactive in solving potential national issues. We have to stop waiting until issues spiral into full scale war before we act as a government. We must value human lives more than the lives of cows. This is the ultimate determinant whether we will solve this crisis or not. If our government continues to place little value on human lives, we will never solve this Fulani Herdsmen crisis.

Now, we have seen what makes the problem persists and what will make it fail, let’s look at how we can solve this problem once and for all.

HOW TO SOLVE THE FULANI HERDSMEN CRISIS WITHIN THREE MONTHS

1. NATIONWIDE CURFEW ON CATTLE MOVEMENT: As part of the temporal measures to solve the crisis, the Federal Government should impose a National Curfew on Cattle Movement across the nation. No cattle should move or be transported to or from any part of Nigeria between the hours of 6pm and 7am. This will help curb the present menace as most of the atrocities happen at night.

2. EMERGENCY RANCHING PROGRAM: The Federal Government in collaboration with all 36 state governors should start a National Emergency Ranching program for all cattle owners in all 36 states. The lands for the ranches can be gotten through a Rent-To-Own mortgage system. The cattle owners will pay 5% of the total cost of the land as a deposit, and then continue to pay for the property in either monthly, quarterly or yearly installments, as agreed with the land owners. The payment can be spread to 25 to 35 years period. Cattle owners who have the means can opt to pay fully for the lands.

The lands must be fenced completely to avoid bandits from coming to steal the cows and to avoid the cows from roaming into other people’s farm lands and property, which is the major cause of the problems in the first place.

The cows will be fed by supplying them grasses just the way we feed our goats at home by going to get grasses for them. The cattle owners can opt to buy grasses to feed the cows. This will create jobs for the local community.

The cows too can be fed by the grasses that were imported by the FG from Brazil. Those grasses should grow in 1 to 3 months’ time. So they can be eating the local grass for like 3 months while they wait for the Brazilian grasses to mature and be supplied to them. Meanwhile, what is the update on the Brazilian Grass Seedling project?

The Federal Government can also give incentives like low interest rates and provision of land for siting of factories that will produce nutritious cattle feed for the cows. Cattle feed business will be good business in Nigeria.

However, while all these are being planned, let the cows be kept in their ranches and be eating the local grasses that will be fed them from the community.

A monitoring team consisting mainly of security personnel’s must be assigned by the Federal Government to monitor the activities of the herdsmen in the ranches, to avoid the possibility of any form of criminal activity.

3. DEALING WITH THE HERDSMEN: The herdsmen need to be educated and re-oriented in order to have a paradigm shift and thus come to the understanding, acceptance and realization that human lives are more important than cattle lives.

They must be taught to know how to handle conflicts, that they should report any case of stolen cattle to the police and not by killing innocent people in a community.

The herdsmen need to be educated and taught how to communicate properly. Most of these guys don’t know how to speak English or even Pidgin. Poor communication is always the foundation for conflicts and crisis. Better communication will often lead to better understanding between the herdsmen and the farmers and residents of the community. The inability of the herdsmen to properly communicate is a major cause of the violence among them. Even if the herdsmen are put in ranches to cater for their cows, so long as they cannot communicate properly, there will still be conflicts because of the perception of being cheated plus other psychological issues. If they can speak English or pidgin fluently, their problems will be half solved.

If these herdsmen can be made to appreciate human life, and to also communicate properly, then we will be looking at a gross reduction in conflicts between herdsmen and members of the communities.

4. ACCOUNTABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY OF THE CATTLE OWNERS: Everybody talks about the herdsmen but nobody talks about the herd owners. The herdsmen are just staffs, so who owns the cattle’s? Are they ghosts? Are these guys above the law?

The cattle owners should be brought in. They must know that CHANGE has come, and that it will not be business as usual. It is high time we begin to hold the cattle owners responsible for the atrocities committed by their staffs, the herdsmen. The cattle owners must not only obey the new instruction to get ranches, they also must place sign boards of their registered companies visible for all to see, so that the company can be sued and can also sue.

Cattle owners will bear the cost of training and re-orientation of their herdsmen to appreciate human life. Provide ID cards for them. And also bear the cost of hiring a language instructor to teach the herdsmen how to properly communicate with other Nigerians. Even if the herdsmen are put in ranches to cater for their cows, so long as they cannot communicate properly, there will still be conflicts because of the perception of being cheated, so they have to be taught to understand and speak well, pidgin or English. Better communication means better co-operation with other Nigerians.

Cattle owners must sign an undertaking to abide by the new rules on how to go about their cattle business. The undertaking will state they will be held responsible for any form of criminal or terrorists activities carried out by staffs or people living in his ranch.

All cattle owners in collaboration with State and Federal Government must create a database of Fulani Herdsmen. We must know how many herdsmen are employed and roaming around in this country. And this database must be accessible by all security personnel to ensure proper tracking of their activities and to be able to fish out the criminals among them. Some of the people perpetrating this act are not actually herdsmen but terrorist from either Boko Haram or Fulani Militants. We must know how many they are, where they are, and how to contact them and their bosses.
The Fulani Herdsmen crisis cannot be stopped or reduced without a comprehensive database of all herdsmen in this country. A terrorist can be moving with cattle disguised as herdsman, but if the police stops and checks him out on the database, it will be ascertained whether he is a genuine herdsman or a potential terrorist.

This is the crux of the matter. Fulani Herdsmen kill people anyhow because no one is held responsible. If their bosses are forced to pay for damages by law, if their bosses are faced with the threat of jail term, I believe they will be forced to behave themselves.

5. BORDER COMMUNITY POLICING: Nigeria is a victim of terrorism today because of poor National border control and zero border policing. Nigeria is also experiencing reckless killings by Fulani Herdsmen because of poor inter-State border control and policing. The armed forces, in collaboration with the Border Communities Development Agency should set up a border control unit both inter-State and National Borders.

These killings usually happens in inter-state border communities because they are prone to attacks by the herdsmen. In 2013, the House or Representatives recommended that army bases be set up in border communities. This should be done immediately, not just inter-State borders alone, but national borders also. This will go a long way to prevent further crisis in Nigeria between Herdsmen and community members. It will also help to completely eliminate Boko Haram because without an effective inter-state and national border control, Boko Harm and Fulani Herdsmen crisis cannot be eliminated.

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Great ideas don’t make great nations but great decisions do. If these ideas are implemented, we will successfully end the Fulani Herdsmen crisis and Boko Haram crisis. It’s a template that can solve both problems at the same time.

Looking forward to a better Nigeria.

God bless Nigeria.

B. S to me.

For nija?

The solutions you gave are wonderful, but the crisis might still linger because the Government is inept.

You do not train a people to respect lives and other people's property.
It is a part of cultural/ societal psyche and upbringing.