From Bode Durojaiye, Oyo.
Without a coherent policy to pro-actively deal with the phenomenon of herdsmen and farmers clashes which have escalated in various parts of the country, continued mutual and peaceful co-existence among citizens may be a mirage.
The herder/farmer conflict typifies the resource conflict that thrives in an atmosphere of ecological scarcity and competition, as well as livelihood crisis.
The conflict is evidently accentuated by the global trend of climate change which has led to the shrinking of ecological space and resources, leading to intense pressure on, and competition for, available resources.
Accordingly, the spiralling migration of pastoralists from the
country’s far North towards the South-western part of the country has resulted in tense relations between the Fulani herdsmen and the settled native farmers.
As a result, there is a desperate and violent struggle for access to and control of scarce ecological space and resources.
During the harmattan, the land is dry in most of the country far North.
With no grasses for cattle to feed their herds and the soil too dry to sustain cropping, the herdsmen have no option than to move down South for greener pasture.
The herdsmen leave the far North (an extremist kind across the country’s northern borders from Niger and Chad) during the harmattan, usually during the end of the year, and travels long distance by foot, covering hundreds of kilometres stretching the central to the Southern part of the country in search of grazing lands to feed the herds.
An expedition from Sokoto in the country’s deep north to Oyo State, down south will take four months on foot through the various cattle routes.
The dangers along the grazing routes are typical.
Herdsmen are routinely attacked by cattle rustlers and farming communities.
But neither the distance nor the dangers that line the route has
stopped the nomads from their traditional occupation.
The social standing of a Fulani herdsman depends on the number of cattle he possesses.
Hence, the herdsman guards his cattle jealously and fights anybody who tries to harm his animals.
A poisoned dagger is the herdsman’s favourite weapon of choice.
As a deterrent, the herdsmen are well armed and move around with sticks, daggers, cutlasses, bows and arrows, swords, guns and other dangerous weapons to protect themselves against any attack.
The herdsmen also move around with amulets and charms for protection for themselves and their animals
The situations have recorded deaths by the thousands from clashes between predominantly Fulani herdsmen and local farmers.
In Oyo State, unless the government urgently addresses incessant encroachment of farmlands by bororo cattle-rearers, and attendant damages on planted crops, there is imminence of bloody clashes between the farmers and the migrating herdsmen.
Already, residents from about eight villages, and settlers from Ilora farm settlement in the Afijio local government area of the state have declared total war on the bororo cattle rearers.
The affected villages include Oluwatedo, Temidire, Idode, Kaye, Fitila, Isale-Awon and Ekefa.
The angry-looking villagers, who were peasant farmers, narrated how they lost millions of naira to malicious damages done to their farm produce by the herdsmen.
Spokespersons for the villagers, Messers Sunday Adeladan and Jacob Ayoola, hinted our correspondent that invasion of their farmlands by the bororos started late last year, and
that frantic efforts to check the criminal acts were often met with violent attacks by the cattle rearers.
According to them, “villagers from each of the communities planted cassava, maize and yams on about 50 acres of farmlands each, but were unable to harvest five ridges because the cattle owned by the bororo had eaten up all the crops. Whenever we contact these bororos on the damages and the need for compensation, they will draw out their sharp daggers and cork their double-barreled guns in readiness for attacks.”
They accused the police of complicity in the matter, and stressed that all peaceful means to seek amicable resolution were usually thwarted by their uncooperative attitudes.
“What is worrisome and provocative is the preferential treatment accorded these bororos. If you go to the police station or police post to lodge complaint about them, rather than for the police to act accordingly and do thorough investigation, we the complainants will later be treated as the accused. Often times, the police will lock us in their cells and torture us on the dictates of the bororos”.
The spokespersons added that presently, they owe over N20 million as loans received, but could not pay back because there is no means of doing so.
“Our means of livelihood have been damaged and eaten up by cows, we have no other means of
sustenance. Our families are dying of hunger, nothing for us to eat, let alone allowing our children to go to schools. No money to buy text books school sandals, not to even talk of their uniforms. It is
as serious as that”.
“Failure to comply with the ultimatum may invoke anger and violent reactions from us because an hungry person is a mad person. Authorities concerned must intervene now before it is too late.”
Similarly, Chairman, Ilora Farm Settlers Association, Alhaji Azeez Giwa, disclosed that over 8,009 acres of farmlands were eaten up and destroyed by the bororo cows between 2003 and to date.
Giwa hinted that an agriculture loan of N7 million received by the settlers from the government could not be repaid, since their means of livelihood had been eaten up, said a sum of N40 million is needed as compensation for malicious
damages.
Giwa further alleged threats to lives and property by leader
of the bororo cattle rearers, one Alhaji Jere, who boasted to be untouchable and vowed not to relent in the destruction and damages of our farm products.
It was gathered that following the protracted crises, the immediate past House of Assembly passed a law for the constitution of a committee in each of the 33 Local Governments.
The committee is to be headed by council chairman, while the
Divisional Police Officer serves as the secretary. Other members must include heads and representatives of the communities, as well as representatives of the bororo
cattle rearers.
Situations are not different in Oke-Ogun area where farmers are angry and threatening a showdown over what they referred to as “unabated criminal onslaught” being unleashed by cattle rearers who migrated from neighbouring Niger Republic.
The latest was the destruction of farm products valued at about N1.5million. The 50 acres maize farm was located at Simi Akorede border town in the Saki-West local government area.
The food crops were not only eaten up by over 200 cattle, the cattle rearers also destroyed the left over with their cutlasses.
When the owner of the crops, Mr. Akeem Oladejo, reported the matter to the police, he said no action was taken.
The daredevil herdsmen, according to him, “even threatened to kill my family members if I dared attempt to prevent their cattle from subsequent damages”.
Oladejo, who collected agricultural loan from the state government, almost lost his life before taking his matter to the umbrella body of all farmers associations in the area for appropriate action.
The intervention of the Local Government saved the situation from degenerating into bloodbath.
As a result, tension is already building in the community.
Also, the pathetic case of a middle-aged peasant farmer, whose left arm was chopped off at Ipapo in Itesiwaju local government area, is already generating tension.
The unsuspecting farmer decided to go to his farm one Sunday morning to harvest some tubers of yams for the family meal.
On reaching the farm, he saw two bororo men who were harvesting some tubers of yam for their cattle to feed on.
After challenging the bororo men, the farm owner wanted to pick those tubers of yam already harvested, when one of the cattle rearers angrily drew out a sharp sword from a bag in his left arm.
Sensing danger, the perplexed farmer threw away the tubers of yam and took to his heels.
The bororo man still pursued him until he fell over a big stone where
his left hand was cut off by the cattle rearer.
Scream of pains attracted passersby who rushed to the scene and took the farmer to a private hospital.
He was later taken to the University College Hospital, UCH, in Ibadan, the state capital.
The bororo men had bolted away with their cattle and could not be apprehended till today.
Going by several reports of herdsmen encroaching and grazing their cattle on farmlands and the pattern of attacks on farmer’s settlements and communities, the Fulani appear overwhelming as the aggressors.
“Our herd is our life because to every nomad, life is worthless
without his cattle. What do you expect from us when our source of existence is threatened? The encroachment of grazing fields and routes by farmers is a call to war”, those were the words of a Fulani herdsman, Abdullahi Sadeeq, in an interview in Saki town.
They largely capture the mindset of an opposing camp in the second largest security challenge that Nigeria is grappling with at present.
Again, the inability of the law enforcement agencies to check the proliferation of small arms and light weapons worsens security situations in the country.
In 2009, Nigeria officially had 415 grazing reserves but only
one-third is in use, while the remaining 270 have been built on or farmed.
This prompted the Federal Government to evolve a policy of
establishing nationwide grazing reserves and routes.
Three reserves were planned that year for the Federal Capital
Territory, Abuja and two other northern states to serve about 15 million pastoralists, including the demarcation of 175,000 hectares of grazing land, building of veterinary service centres, and construction of settlements for nomads to use en route, all at a cost of $247 million.
Government also demarcated about 1,400km livestock route from Sokoto State to Oyo State and another 2,000km route from Adamawa State in the North-East to Calabar in the
Delta region.
Five years after, the state of the country’s grazing reserves has
remained unchanged.
Former Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Adesina Akinwumi, once said that of the current 415 grazing reserves across the country, only 141 have been gazetted with less than 20 equipped with resources for pastoralists.
Although a presidential committee, of which the former minister was a member during former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, was set up and given specific terms of reference aimed at improving existing grazing reserves and designing a new financing regime for them.
The committee had been remarkable for its inactivity.
However, the immediate past government earmarked N10
billion for the operation of the Great Green Wall Programme (GGWP), in an effort to boost the fight against desert encroachment, a major factor that has driven pastoralists from the far North to the North-Central region of Nigeria in search of grazing fields.
From 2011-2014, an analysis of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture’s capital budget showed inconsistent allocation to the development of grazing routes and reserves.
In 2011, the ministry allocated N31,404,899,584 for capital projects.
It channeled N310, 489,185 for its National Grazing Reserves and Pasture Development Programme that year.
Of the ministry’s N45,009,990,000 capital budget for 2012, a total N930,000,000 was allocated to the development of grazing reserves, stock routes (1140km) and resting points across Nigeria.
In 2013 and 2014, the ministry allocated N130,582,000 and N100,130,000 respectively from its N50,808,871,428 and N35,151,172,583 capital budgets in the year under review for countrywide grazing reserves development.
Despite all these interventions, bloody clashes between herdsmen and farmers continue to occur in several parts of the country.
Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution places responsibility on government to ensure the security of lives and property. Yet, past and present administrations have not demonstrated the political will to halt the herdsmen/farmers clashes.
Meanwhile, a legal practitioner, Barrister Wale Adeoye, has suggested that cattle routes and grazing reserves should be phased out to lay emphasis on ranching.
Adeoye also identified cattle rustling as a disincentive to ranching and called for “better policing”.
“State Governments, which have large livestock population, should maintain grazing reserves. The three-tiers of Government should equally embark on a contentious “modernisation programme” in which nomadic herdsmen will be integrated into settled communities based on established cattle ranches with fodder development technologies, and
including abattoirs, processors and other businesses along the
livestock value chain”.
“The integrated development programme should be undertaken and wrapped
up within a period of 5 to 10 years after which such settlements should have become self-sustaining with the full integration of the nomadic herdsmen community into modern Nigeria political economy”
The legal practitioner also advocated that traditional institutions should be primarily responsible for the conflict resolution between the herdsmen and farmers, and also their respective associations.
“The farmers would want their crops to be protected, while the cattleman will also want their cattle to feed. So, the government should fashion out peaceful means to end the crisis.”
At the other end, the sentiments of those opposed to ceding land to cattle herdsmen are no less extreme as host communities see the idea of grazing reserves and routes as “provocative” and “selfish”.
They alleged that the move is open to religious and political biases.
According to two farmers who spoke in Saki, Mallam Adio Aleem and Mr. Adekojo Alade, “the proposal for citing grazing routes and reserves across the country is selfish and provocative. You can’t ask people in an agrarian area like Oke-Ogun, for example, to cut out areas and
designate them as grazing precincts just to avoid incessant conflicts with herdsmen. The proposal is simply provocative.”
No one has been able to find a middle ground between these two extremities. And so the bloodletting continues.
