Baba Usman Ngelzarma, National President of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), has called for stronger collaboration in tackling insecurity across the country. In an interview with selected journalists in Ilorin, Kwara State, Ngelzarma urged the government to intensify its efforts by working more closely with security agencies and the leadership of MACBAN. The association leader stressed that the association remains committed to cooperating with authorities to flush out criminals from their hideouts, even as he noted with concern the infiltration of criminal elements from Zamfara, which he said is threatening the peace of Kwara State. SIKIRAT SHEHU brings the excerpts:
In Kwara State, Yorubas, Fulanis, Nupes have been living together peacefully over the years, in your view, how do you see the recent attack by bandits and what is your reaction?
Well, first of all you have to understand that the insecurity problem is not only in Kwara State. The problem is in the entire country. The entire north-western Nigeria is a hot bed. You know what is going on in Zamfara, you know what is going on in Katsina, and definitely what is going on in Sokoto and Kebbi States. Apart from the activities of bandits, kidnappers and cattle rustlers, you also have some other groups of insurgents who are emerging. They call them Lakurawah, Mamudawah, a lot of other groups also coming up to add up to the security problems we already have in this country. So, what is happening in Kwara State is not different from what is happening in the entire country. You have followed what is going on in Plateau, Benue, Enugu. In the North-East, Boko Haram are still attacking. So, it’s not only in Kwara State. But our problem in Kwara here, Kwara has been peaceful. The residents of Kwara State are living in peace. The Yorubas and the Fulanis are coexisting in peace. But we believe as of today, because of the infiltration of some criminals from Zamfara State, this is what we are experiencing in Kwara. Before it comes to Kwara, it took place in Kogi State. So, I believe the problem in Kogi is now moving into Kwara State. And these criminals are always going to places where they have concentration of rich Fulanis.
Because they steal their cows to fund their criminal activities, get arms and so many other things. They always kidnap Fulanis in the forest. On daily basis, hundreds of them are being kidnapped. They bring the cow into the town, sell and go and pay ransom quietly. Because even if they report, what is going to be done? Nothing. Because if they have to run, how long will they run with two, three hundred cows? With all the families they have in the forest, how long will they run? The highest they can run is three kilometres. And these guys are using bikes. They get them in five minutes. So, what we are experiencing here is that the pastoralists are the most affected. Their cows are being taken away on daily basis. And they are being kidnapped on daily basis.
They are not spared. And because of the negative profiling by the media, today, each and every community sees them as criminals. So, today, when these cattle rustlers and kidnappers are disturbing them in the forest, they come to the city, the community is seeing them as criminals, attacking them also. They are really in a problem. So, it’s not the problem of only Kwara State, it’s the problem of the entire country. The people of Kwara have to understand this. It is the infiltration of criminals from Zamfara that is disturbing the peace in Kwara. Not the Fulanis, the indigenous Kwara Fulanis. I believe they are not the ones and they are not also spared.
What do you proffer as solution to these problems?
Well, the solution in Kwara is for the government to be more proactive, to be up and doing. And the governor is the chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum. I am sure, in his forum, he understands the security concerns of the country more than any other person. Because reports are always given to him on what is going on in various states across the country. He knows more than any other person. So, we call on the government to double effort, to work more with the security agencies and the leadership of our association. Because members of the association are always ready to cooperate with the government and flush out these criminals from the state. They are ready. That is the reason why the late chairman lost his life, I believe he lost his life because he is helping the government to fight crime. He is helping the community to fight crime and that was the reason why he lost his life, he was killed. So, the members are always ready to cooperate with the government in ensuring peace in this state. Let the government work, let the security agencies work with the leadership of the association in this state for the interest of the peaceful coexistence. But let the community also understand that even the pastoralists who are living in the forest are not spared. Let them stop seeing them as criminals. Let them work hand in hand with them. Let them sit to discuss with them on the ways on how these things can be combated. They are living in the forest. Maybe they know where these criminals are. So, if the government will take them into confidence and work closely with their leadership, I am sure this thing will go.
Is it not strange that Fulani will be attacking Fulani because some are criminals and others are pastoralists?
Does a criminal discriminate between tribe and religion? It’s a common interest. And the criminals are not only the Fulanis. If you go to the forest, among the criminals you find the Hausas, you find the Fulanis, you find even the Igbos doing their drug and arms business. So, there is nobody you don’t find in crime in Nigeria today. It’s a common interest that doesn’t discriminate between tribe and religion. Fulanis against Fulanis in Katsina is very common. Fulanis as farmers on one side, Fulanis as pastoralists on the other side. They are fighting each other in Katsina, losing a lot of lives. It’s also happening in Zamfara, between the Fulanis themselves. And sometimes between the Fulanis and the Hausas that you cannot differentiate. They fight among themselves because of complication and misunderstanding.
Because of the delicacy of the issue. The issue has become so complex that, to me, there has to be an evolution of a community-based approach towards solving these issues. Let all the stakeholders that are involved in this crisis be allowed to define their own peace.
By the time you do that, get the leadership of even the bandits, if you can get their leadership. Get the leadership of the pastoralists, the association, the traditional rulers, the non-stakeholders like Amotekun, the vigilante, whatever. Get all the leadership of those concerned to define their own peace.
By the time you collect all this information, roles will be made clear for every functionary to perform. The roles of the traditional rulers will become clear. The role of religious groups will become clear.
The roles of government and all security agencies will become clear. Even the role of the association will become very clear. Because everyone will be complaining that this one has done this to me, that is why I am doing this to him. So, let there be a community-based approach towards solving this problem. Let all those that are concerned in the crisis be allowed to define their own peace by themselves. By the time you do this, collect all the inputs, you get solutions definitely. This is what we believe in, this is what I personally believe in.
Farmers-herders crisis, the formation of this Ministry of Livestock, both in federal and state, will it actually bring solutions to this problem?
It will. The problem we are still facing is because the ministry is still new. It is trying to settle down. It is just being created, just a few months. It is trying to settle down. And you know, establishing a new institution is an Herculean task. You have to get the office accommodation, you have to get the right departments that can be created, you have to get the right staffing, the right funding, and what have you. But in totality we believe. Because all that we have been complaining about in the past years is attention is being dwelled on agronomy, neglecting the livestock sector over decades. Today a ministry is being created. And not only at the national level, over 19 states have now keyed into it to also create a ministry. Imagine the huge investment that is going to be injected there. So, huge money is going to come in there. Employment is going to be created for veterinary doctors, for pasture producers, for livestock processors, for milk processors.
The entire value chain is now going to be reactivated fully for the benefit of the entire country. It is not done for the pastoralists alone. It is done for poultry farmers, it is done for pig farmers, it is done for, even if you have dog farmers, it is also done for.
Every livestock is involved in the ministry. So, this is an institution that is going to turn around the entire livestock production system in the country. We believe the potentials that are involved there will now be tapped for the interest of the entire nation, not only the pastoralists.
As I told you, employment will be created. Even now, we have started noticing lots of cow being slaughtered; states coming up with modern meat processing abattoirs that have the capacity of processing 500 to 1,000 cows on a daily basis. Where are these cows coming from? These are ventures that can empower youth. You can come, patent two or three cows, take it to the abattoir where it is sold at a high cost. All this middleman activity is going to be cut. So, everybody is going to get the right benefit for his product. So, we believe with the coming of the ministry, things are going to be solved. And it is not only transforming the economic aspect. Even peace building is also inclusive there. The ministry is engaging in activities that will solve the non-kinetic measure aspect of the crisis. While the security forces are going with the kinetic measures, the ministry will come up with non-kinetic measures that can stimulate employment, that can stimulate the psyche, that can sensitise with the use of the association like ours, so that awareness can be created among the pastoralists to understand the modernised system of annual husbandry unlike before. Because while we are living in this era of development, these guys are still living in the past, practising the primitive system of animal husbandry they inherited from their forefathers as the only option they have to do to survive.
They are not doing it as a matter of choice. They are doing it as a necessity because there is no other option for them. Because this is how they learn to do it from their forefathers.
Where do I look for free fodder to feed the animals? Because your own survival depends on the animal survival. If the animals are not there, you don’t survive, you die. So that is why it is very, very important.
We believe the ministry will address the non-kinetic aspect of the crisis, creating awareness. Let the pastoralists know, today there are cows that are weighing 1,000 against the ones that are weighing a maximum of 2,000 or 3,000. Let the pastoralists know today there are cows that are given an output of milk of about 50 litres per cow per day against the ones that are given just 3 to 5 litres of milk per day because we are still on the outstanding ratio of cows that give out a little output of meat and milk.
So, if the trade can be modernised, if they can be educated, they will definitely venture. Who wants to suffer in life? They also want to enjoy like the city people. But because this is their only source of livelihood and a way of life for them, let them look for food for themselves, for the house, for them to survive because that depends on your survival as well.
So, let the public know that they are doing it not as a matter of choice, they are doing it as a necessity because there is no other option apart from that.
