“We value our cows more than anything else”

Those were the alleged words some news outlets ascribed to Mr. Garus Gololo, the National Coordinator of Myetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, and Special Assistant to Benue State Governor on Fulani matters, as part of his response to the counter attack by some Fulani herdsmen in Agatu Local Government Area of Benue State, in 2013, which left about 40 people dead at a funeral ceremony.

This carnage is one of many that has fraught different communities in the country since 2012 – the most recent being the attack at Akpagodogbo Otukpa, in Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue State, that left a police station destroyed and more than four people dead; and Ozalla, in Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu state, that left two men severely brutalized - leaving a growing number of corpses in its wake in the Fulani herdsmen constant transhumance migration to get the best grazing condition for their animals, and have saw them ranked as the fourth deadliest militant group in the world with a record killing of 1229 people in 2014, according to the 2015 Global Terrorism Index report published annually by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), but have lost that spot to Al-Qa’ida in the 2016 report.

Politico-religious speculations have often been tied to the different theories advanced by some discussants when analyzing the reasons that gave rise to and fuelled this development; however at the core of the crises are desertification and deforestation, the primary root causes that must be addressed to forestall future occurrences.

Deforestation, on one hand, is considered as one of the contributing factors to global climate change. It leads to the permanent destruction of forests which in turn leads to the lack thereof of trees to absorb greenhouse gases and carbon emissions, and unavailability of oxygen and the release of water vapor into the atmosphere, resulting in the eventual dryness of the land.

Desertification, on the other hand, is the degradation of land whereby dry area of land loses its bodies of water as well as lush vegetation and wildlife as it becomes increasingly arid.

Much of Northern Nigeria, mostly Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara, are being affected by varying degrees of desertification estimated between 50% and 75%, and may worsen as the Sahara desert keeps advancing south wards at the rate of 6.0 percentages every year. Consequently, Nigeria loses about 350,000 hectares of land every year to desert encroachment. This has led to demographic displacements in villages across 11 states in the North. It is estimated that Nigeria loses about $5.1billion every year owing to rapid encroachment of drought and desert in most parts of the north.

This has greatly contributed to the continuous southward migration of the herdsmen with their cattle in search for lush vegetation for grazing.

In tackling these conflicts was the proffered solution by the Nigerian government to create an enforceable grazing area in the North Central as a short term solution to the problem of the conflict between the herdsmen and host communities which has been rejected by the herdsmen, under the Myetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, through its National Legal Adviser, Bello Tukur, insisting on having grazing reserves and routes which brought about the proposed National Grazing Reserve (Establishment) Bill 2016 that would establish the Nigerian Grazing Reserve Commission, which shall have power to, among others, establish one cattle reserve in each state of the federation.

The bill has attracted criticisms in some quarters and has been rebuffed repeatedly by some factions who urged the National Assembly to dump the proposed bill saying it contradicts the Land Use Act which vested powers to allocate lands to the federal, state, and local governments, arguing that it will create more problems instead as cattle rearing is regarded a private business. With a lasting solution still lingering the clashes have continued unabated as there is no love lost between Fulani herdsmen and farmers whose crops, and (or) lives, get destroyed in the melee.

The incessant attack in Benue State and environs has caused the president of the Middle Belt Youth Council (MBYC) to advise victims to take up arms in their defense, further saying the way forward to end these attacks by the herdsmen is for communities to carry weapons to protect themselves. While it sounds like a safer route to follow, from the victims point of view, given the nature of the vicious cycle of violence, it may not produce the desired lasting solution.

It is in this regard we are positing, from where we stand as key players in the energy sector, the benefits of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as a lasting solution to this crisis.

Popular belief meets reality

The pastoral system practiced by the Fulani herders fall into three groups – exclusively pastoralists; transhumant pastoralists, and agro-pastoralists. Contrary to popular belief, moving with animals is not a luxury they take delight in. In fact, herding is a monumental task for the Fulani’s who are always trying to get the best grazing condition for their animals. The migrant Fulani in Nigeria move because they have no choice (Otchere et al., 1985). A survey (Iro, undated) reported that three-quarters of the mobile Fulani indicated that herding is not only toilsome, it is becoming more strenuous. Nevertheless, about ten percent of the Fulani, mostly those who are near dams and grazing reserves, say herding is becoming easier. Ninety-seven percent, including those who say herding is becoming less laborious, prefer raising animals within the precinct of the homestead.

The Math

According to the National Population Commission, the population of Nigeria as at 2016 is 182million people. The north comprises 54% of that figure which translates to 98,280,000 and the south has the other half, 46% which is 83,720,000, while the average population per households in the south is 5 persons, and the northern average is 10 persons per households. For the purpose of this piece, as we already stated our focus would be on the north.
We’ve established there are 9.8million homes in the north but how important is this figure in relation to LPG distribution in the region?
9,800,000 households when multiplied by 12.5Kg worth of gas monthly amounts to 122,500,000kg of gas monthly.
Annually, the market potential for 12 months translates to 122,500,000 multiplied by 12= 1,470,000,000 worth of gas which is 1.470million tonnes.

How can LPG solve the crisis?

Unlike the south where the consumption of LPG has increased tremendously as the preferred source of energy over the years - cooking gas (LPG) has witnessed massive growth from less than 70,000 tonnes consumed in 2007 to the current 500,000MT, a 614.285 percentage increase within 10 years, mostly in the south – same cannot be said for households in the north that still rely heavily on kerosene and firewood.

Sourcing for firewood is contributory to deforestation, and when converted to gas what we get is 12.5kg worth of gas is the equivalent of 91kg of firewood. If we apply the same math to firewood, what it implies is that Northern Nigeria can save 1470000000* 91kg = 133,770,000,000kg worth of wood, as well as its forest.

While there are no globally accepted standard for a forest, according to Debal Ray, a forester by choice on quora, “a forest is a land area of more than 0.5 ha, with a tree canopy cover of more than 10%, which is not primarily under agricultural or other specific non-forest land use. In the case of young forests or regions where tree growth is climatically suppressed, the trees should be capable of reaching a height of 5 m in situ, and of meeting the canopy cover requirement.”

Back to the numbers - Achieving 10% canopy cover (meaning if you stand in such a forest and look skyward, at least 10% of the sky should be covered by canopy of the trees) is important. We take that minimum 400 trees are able to fully stock (i.e. impart 40% canopy cover) one hectare of forest. This means 50 trees in a 0.5 hectare patch of forest, inter alia, will constitute a forest.

The Fulani Herdsmen love for their cows has been like a train without brakes, unstoppable, in their search to cater for the needs of the cows; grass hay, alfalfa hay, grains, corn as well as grass silage and water for their survival, and easy access to these in the north has become a challenge due to deforestation, and other factors, hence their constant migration southwards where.

While we agree that there are no one factor that has led to these development, we’ve also identified there are no one way to resolving these crisis. The conversion from firewood to LPG in the north – one of the ways to resolve these crisis – will not only help in the combat against land degradation, it will boost economic activities in the region as well as complement the Federal Government of Nigeria’s effort in fighting desert encroachment through its Great Green Wall Project, and ensure, in the long run, that the pastoralists won’t need to go far or look beyond their region to take care of their beloved cows.

Authored by Uwandu Emmanuel and Richard odilu From Kiakiagas.com you can reach us through Email: gaspreneur@kiakiagas.com or phone call 08187784000

do you mean RPG?

What is this one saying?

konoplyanka:
do you mean RPG?

HEHEHE

Its beyond cows now.Its targeted cleansing and also putting the fear of the fulani in every tribe,its terrorism.

konoplyanka:
do you mean RPG?

It is LPG; Liquefied Petroleum Gas (cooking gas)

uwandukahuna:


It is LPG; Liquefied Petroleum Gas (cooking gas)

nothing is stopping you.
buy gas, buy land.
distribute to the north, and make money and peace

The amount of deaths from the use of dirty fuels in Nigeria according to the World Health Organization is 98,000 females deaths annually; putting that into perspective it is 2649 deaths per state in Nigeria and 127 deaths per LGA, is this not more than the issue of the fulani herdsmen crisis?

OP just tell us to come buy your gas.