KACRAN president says oil boom led Nigeria to neglect agriculture

KACRAN president says oil boom led Nigeria to neglect agriculture

By: Yahaya Wakili

The National President of the Kulen Allah Cattle Rearers Association of Nigeria (KACRAN), Hon. Khalil Mohammed Bello, has revealed that the oil boom led Nigeria to neglect the agricultural sector, of which livestock is an integral part.

Hon. Khalil Bello started this at the National Conference on the Farmers-Herders Conflict History. Causes and context:How it can be amicably resolved, organized by Lje Nigeria at the Yar Adua Center, Abuja. Which was made available to Newsng in Damaturu.

He said historically, our pastoralist traditions have been rooted in social harmony, and even before the colonial era and up to this day, wherever a Fulani pastoralist moves in search of animal feed and water, first we visit the traditional ruler of that area to seek permission to move on.

Khalil maintained that Fulani people are highly social and intermingle freely with any community, and they are ready to accept any person in the country, regardless of their tribe or religion, and they make a conscious effort to learn the languages of the communities they live with.

“The historical roots of the conflict between the farmers and herders and the challenges we face today are a stark contrast to our past. In the pre-colonial and past colonial eras up to the first republic, pastoralism was at its highest peak, and during this nostalgic period, there were ample grazing areas and water points across the northern region,” Bello said.

Hon. Khalil Bello further said the last administration’s policies, which closed our borders and distributed billions of naira to farmers, led to the blind and furious encroachment on and blockage of almost all cattle routes, and this painful action has endangered the livestock sector and is the primary cause of the current conflict.

“The current conflict, however, is a result of broken and grazed reserves converted to farmland, and herders have been left with no option but to move to states like Benue and Plateau, which cannot contain them, and then to the Southern part of the country, and this movement, where there is no availability of land, forces them to enter and destroy people’s farms, leading to fighting and the loss of lives and properties.

Hon. Bello enumerated solutions based on their research to bringan end to this conflict. Reclaim and revitalize grazing reserves: Northern governors must face reality by reclaiming all reclaimable grazing reserves. Restore blocked cattle routes. Northern governors must reclaim all blocked cattle routes that were blocked for farming expansion and not for development projects.

Others include enforcing accountability and justice; pastoralists must stop destroying people’s farms and must compensate farmers for any accidental destruction. Similarly, farmers must stop encroaching on grazing reserves and blocking cattle routes. To promote dialogue and forgiveness, the cycle of violence must be broken through dialogue with all herders, and the government should also confiscate all guns and weapons from both bandits and vigilantes.

 Empower Affected Communities: Paying ransom to those who have lost their loved ones, livestock, and business is crucial to helping them start a new life. The Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support project (L-PRES) and the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development should be encouraged and supported by our government to revive the 417 grazing reserves in the country.

KACRAN president says oil boom led Nigeria to neglect agriculture