₦airaland Forum

I need the whatsapp number of the factory. My whatssap number 07056177978

How much do you sell 100kg bag of paddy rice currently?

Ok.

Paper1a

THE SPATE OF INSECURITY IN NIGERIA: FARMERS AND HERDERS SKIRMISHES

A. An Acquintance with Herders
Fulani is a tribe or ethic group whose major lifestyle is pastoral or nomadic. The tribe is called differently across Africa: Fula, Fulani, Fulbe, Peul etc. Their language is Fulfulde.
They spread across Africa regions and their major preoccupation is herding besides farming, trading and jihad (preaching of Islam ). Almost all the population are Muslims. They had vast Islamic scholars among whom (e.g Uthman Fodio).
Among them are political leaders, technocrats, Nationalists and academics, they include Macky Sall, the President of Senegal; Adam Barrow, the President of the Gambia; the Prime Minister of Mali, Boubou Cisse; Muhammadu Buhari, the President of Nigeria; the Vice presidential of the Sierra Leone, Mohammed Judah Jalloh; Tijjani Mohammed Bande, the president United Nations General Assembly; Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations and Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo, the Secretary General of the OPEC.
The ethical and behavioral code of Fulani is "pulaak" which include qualities like patient, self-control, discipline, prudence, modety, respect for others (including foes) etc.
CLASSIFICATION
This classification is based on settlement patterns:
the Nomadic/Pastoral or Mbororo, the semi-Nomadic and the Settled or "Town Fulani".
The Nomadic wanders around in search for green pasture and water.They have no location while the Semi-Nomadic have settlement but they also herd thier cattle around the community they are living. They only go out for grazing in the morning and return in the evening. But the Town Fulani are the one who have given up herding and live in the town doing businesses.

B. The Root of the Crises
* Straying of the Cattle into the Farmland
* Land Encroachment
* Environmental Degradation
* Urbanization
* Cattle Rustling
* Ethno-religious Volatility and Affiliation

Straying of the Cattle into the Farmland
This is a day-to-day inimical activities of the herders to the farmer. Most often this happened when the farmers had gone home in the evening, some heartless herders who returning from daily grazing will deliberately herd their cows into the farms and graze the whole.
Sometimes, if the farmers are on the farms they threatened them with all sort of arms and if they resist, they normally pay it with their lives. Many had paid. To worse it all, if a female farmer is encountered on the farm, they raped them of their body and farm.
Land Encroachment
Herding is a traditional occupation that is transferred from a father to a child. So each family of herders had their routes they claimed to be followed every season across the regions. This route is being claimed to be taken over by the farmers either for shelters or farmlands. Most belligerent herders will therefore insistently followed the same route which had been taken over by the landowners (farmers).
Environmental Degradation
Desertification is a major factor that fuel the fire. For instance, Wikipedia wrote,'' Nigeria loses 2,168 square kilometers of range land and cropland every year to desertification ". So parties are trying to protect their interests. Water is all. It is required by man, animals and plants. A farmer needs water as well as its farm and similarly a herder needs water and his cattle. And waters are going down-ground while population are going skyward. If a Fulani erects thier camp near water and a rice farmer plant by the same water. How do you think there would be clashes? And waters are not as clean and full as before.
Urbanization
Virtually all villages and hamlets are getting one facility to others. Most of the puplic Universities in Nigeria are built at the outskirts of the town. These places been taken over by the government for the public interest were, perhaps, the camps of some nomads. This reminds of a story, someone told me, about a herder who was trying to herd his cow through a university campus and when he was stopped, he claimed that he had been passing through the route with his father since he was young. So they can not deny him of the passage.
Cattle Rustling
The herders also cry. Yes. Do you know most of the cattle are not owned by the herders who carry the blame but some lords(politicians, SAN, academics, merchanmerchants etc) in the towns. In a wink of an eye, armed cattle rustlers will just invade their cattle yard and take away thier long-suffering-forcattles. Even sometimes, they slaughtered them.
A distance cousin of mine told me recently of a brutal invasion of a cattle yard where the herder's head was hit against a wall and the key-to-the-yard was snatched from him.
Ethno-religious Volatility and Affiliation
Nigeria is a volatile and jingoistic nation when it comes to religion and ethnicity. Every ethnicity and religious faiths have paranoid feeling toward one another. And more so, the reaction or action or inaction of some leaddership do not quench the fire but it rather fan the fire. The diabolical believe toward other faiths and ethnicities easily make ways for some criminal elements among us to use disunity as a weapon to perpetuate thier political or economic gains.

Paper1b

IMPLICATIONS

* Insecurity
* Paranoia and Depression
* Starvation
* Signal to Foreign investors
* Unemployment
* Ruination of Agro-investment (fund)
* Skyrocketing of Commodities

The above items are the feasible implications of the crises.

Insecurity
Lives and property of every individual are no more guarantee. There are sea of communal violence between herders' and farmers' communities and counter reprisal attacks take place virtually every week. Thousands of lives and property that worth hundreds of millions have been lost and still losing to these crises.

Paranoia and Depression
This is a serious medical condition in which you believe that other people are trying to harm. A farmer or herder whose relation has once been attacked, will always carry the agony about and perhaps he may not hesitate to revenge if such opportunity opens for him. This reminds me of a scene at a university teaching hospital in Ogbomoso. I was in the hospital with a boss of mine who was bedridden there, and suddenly one of his co-patients screamed after he had received a phone call. He said his farm had been invaded by herders and he had lent money to grow the crops. All was grazed.
Tell me, how he will not suffer from paranoi and depression.

Starvation
Farmers are running away from thier farms and going into other businesses. No one will invest his money, energy and time to something that will bring nothing. Both commercial and subsistent farmers are getting discouraged, yet borders are still close against some food items. It is, therefore, clear that starvation will sett in. What we are experiencing now is just hunger not starvation. Although hunger begets anger but starvation begets death.

Signal to Foreign Investors.
No business-minded investors will risk thier hard-earned resources to a sector of economy that is threatening. So I wonder how government will cajole the foreign investors to venture in our agriculture. Similarly, our agro-export is getting decline. We have potential in cocoa, sesame, shea etc.

Unemployment
Agriculture and agro-allied businesses have capacity to room the army of unemployed and unemployable Nigerian youth. ( This is a topic for another day ).Instead of making use of many opportunities in the sector, we are rather losing them. To make myself clear, some agriculture firms have been laying their staff off because of low production and revenue.

Wastage of Public Fund
The FGN have some agricultural- friendly schemes or facilities (or loans ) which include Anchor -Borrower, AGSMEIS, COVID-19 Loans among others. None of them is a scam! I have seen people who have benefited and I have also benefited. But most of these schemes are impeded by the crises. A month ago, some beneficiaries of Anchor-Borrow from Ogun State were pleading to the FGN to soften thier repayments because they had been seriously affected by the herder invasion.

Skyrocketing of Commodities

Paper1c

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Every society is constituted by two groups: the leader and the led. So the cure for every ailments the society is suffering from must be provide by them.

A. Governments' Roles
. Political will and body language
. Law and Policy
. Deterrence
. Advocacy and Orientation
. Ranching System
. Special Security Network

B. Communities' Roles

. Traditional Leadership
. Jungle Justice
. Tolerance
. Inter-Communities Vigilante Group
. Commensalist Method
. Centralized Farm centre
Political will and body Language
It seems the central government is patting the back of the herders. The President hardly turned his red eyes at the criminal herders and thier society, Maiyetti Allah. And this indicates a nod to thier action. Until recently when the Mr President suddenly rejiging himself in few weeks ago and send a strong message to the criminal elements across the nation.
This message reactivated security operatives and it means our security operatives are as fierce as their counterparts in other countries but they are only expecting 'order from the above'.
Law and Policy
It's responsibility of all governments to make laws and policy programmes that will add values to the lives of the citizenry. Strict law must be made to discourage open grazing, night grazing and chaild-herders. Similarly, laws must be made to prevent cattle rustling. Most important of all, is, implementation.
Deterrence
How criminal farmers and herders have been prosecuted and sentenced? Some elements will not do away with thier crimes until they see their fellows been suffered for the crime.
Dialogue
It's high time the governments called for a round table meeting between the herder community and the farmer community. Hear the both sides grievances and allay thier fear. Government is a father for all.
Advocacy and Orientation
National Orientation Agency suppose to lead the campaign and advocacy on unity, and the advantages in keeping cattle on a ground instead of suffering the cattle themselves through years. This is only possible by integrating thier educated, well-behaved children into the campaign, and more so thier traditional, religious leadership.
Ranching
This is a modern method of animal rearing. Although the central government, also, is looking forward to it but some states are resisting it for the fear of land grabbing external domination. I may also have the fear but I will suggest the following strategies for the central government
1. Make an agreement with the state government that the land will still be directly under thier control.
2. Let them realize IGR it capable of generating for the state.
3. Let the states aware of diary and beverage companies that may establish thier companies in the states.
4. Get the states inform of veterinary doctors and nurses that would be gainfully employed through the program.
5. Assure the herders of their safety and the safety of their cattle. Provide basic amenities like potable water, irrigation system human and animals clinics.

Community Roles
Traditional Leadership
Leadership of the both parties are compromising. For the farmers' traditional leaders, some of them compromise if they are bribe by an err herder. On the part of herders' seriki, no strange or foreign herder will get into thier midst except they aware of their presence. So they should fish out the criminal among them.
Jungle Justice
Jungle justice is another thing that must be eliminated. Let us imbibe the culture of reporting any criminal act to constituted authority. If you kill anyone, their family or tribe will definitely retaliate. Jungle Justice has never pay any party.
Tolerance
In some states like Benue, religious bigotry is another factor that add fuel to the crises. The Benue people are almost Christians while the herders are almost Muslims. This is a sharp differences. Besides, the governor, don't know how to manage crisis. A leader don't talk too much but walk so long.
Dialogue and Security Symposium
Both parties can sit each other down and chronicle lasting solutions. They may set up intra-vigilante network that will be patrolling farms and cattle yards days and nights.
Commensalist Method.
After harvesting, farmers may invite herders onto thier farms to graze the remains and by so doing the cattle defecation will reactivate the soil.

"It's not fair to blame us for every incident because in most cases we are the victims." Saodu Baso, a Fulani leader, told the BBC.

Umar O. BELKO