I was reading with interest on a Nigerian website an article about ranching in the country and why the Fulani herders would not accept the anti-grazing laws passed by some states. It is worth noting that the last time I checked, these Fulani herders are engaged in a private enterprise and are in business for themselves and their families alone. No Nigerian outside of their close knit families derives any financial benefit out of that enterprise as a going concern. In no way shape or form is the business of cattle rearing of any benefit to Nigerians more than a business man or woman who deals on auto parts or involved in any other private business activities.

In as much as an auto parts dealer in Lagos or Aba would not expect the Nigerian state to build or provide a FREE RENTAL space for him to conduct his business in, so should a herdsman not expect the government to provide him a FREE grazing land for his cattle. Any person who is engaged in any form of business knows that there are costs incurred in doing business, which is usually passed onto the customers. As a service provider, you are rewarded for your hard work and thus the profits you make go to you as an individual. No Nigerian of any ethnicity has any GOD given right to encroach or trespass onto another's private property talk less of causing damage upon such property.

So, to expect or demand that the society at large provide you, as a service provider, a FREE rental space or grazing land especially where the success or lack thereof of the enterprise is of no benefit or loss to the country as a whole, is downright asinine and contrary to the spirit of FREE MARKET. I am sure some people would argue that a herdsman by the nature of his business is providing a benefit to the people; and so is the auto parts dealer or a street hawker at OJUELEGBA. In fact, one can successfully argue that any person that is engaged in any form of business provides a beneficial service to the people but the question is whether the primary purpose of setting up the business is for the common good of the country?

It is one thing to argue persuasively to support your point but it borders on lunacy to make very incoherent and idiotic arguments to support a point that's blatantly devoid of reasoning. A case in point is the statement by the head of the Cattle Rearers Association, Mr. Salleh Alhassan, at a press conference in Abuja where he said:

"It is a common knowledge that the primitive form of agriculture practiced in Benue and Taraba states and indeed all over the country, is not consonant with global best practices. So why singling out the pastoralists and insist that they must ranch which is the global best practice? That's our argument. If the whole agricultural policy, the whole development of agriculture in Nigeria is still at this primitive stage, you cannot single out the herders who are also farmers that they must practice global best practice, it's not possible."

Honestly, I find the above statements not only very idiotic but my friend, Mr. Salleh Alhassan, is obviously a victim of disorganized thinking. He's of the unfortunate delusion that simply because he called a press conference to unleash his imbecilic harangue that we as a society should accept his thoughtless and dim witted vision of a backward country and fall in line. His warped thinking is like saying because the country as a whole is corrupt therefore; no one should speak of the inept and corrupt practices of the Nigerian Police or demand that they change their bad behaviors. At least, Mr. Alhassan was not of the argument that as crude and rudimentary the agricultural practices in Benue and Taraba states are, those farmers trespassed or demanded to farm another's land or destroy the crops.

To conclude, I would simply say that if the herdsmen made the decision to go into the business of cattle rearing as a private enterprise, they should also understand that it is their sole responsibility and not that of the government or private citizens to provide them with FREE grazing land for their cattle. It is also not the role of the government to favor one private enterprise over another and should not force states or land owners to provide grazing land for the herdsmen.

ABI o. Farmers then can also demand for farm land all across the federation. One Nigeria.
To be fair tho, if the government invests in other sectors, the Fulanis should also benefit from the government too.