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| retired Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau |
Former Interior Minister, retired Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau, has called for an immediate clean-up of weapons and drugs among Fulani youth as part of practical solutions to the country's dreadful kidnapping trend.
In a paper titled "Dilemma of the Fulbe Pastoralist," Dambazau made the call at the Pastoralists and Fulbe Security Conference in Abuja.
"Exploring the modern difficulties affecting pastoralism and Fulbe with a view to proposing feasible solutions in controlling insecurity across the nation" is the focus of the conference.
The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) and the Northern Consensus Movement collaborated on the event (NCM).
The former minister emphasised the urgent need for real solutions to the Fulbe juvenile kidnappings, which result in daily deaths and property destruction.
Blocking access to weapons and cleaning up all weapons already in circulation inside the Fulbe pastoralist youth environment, according to him, should be one of the first actions.
"We must also clean up the stable," he stated, referring to the society's efforts to combat drug misuse among Fulbe pastoralist adolescents with the help of the NDLEA.
He expressed worry that drug traffickers had targeted the Fulbe kids, and that there was a significant percentage of drug misuse among them, which needed to be addressed quickly.
According to him, it is critical that the criminal justice system pursues all those apprehended for such horrific crimes in order to deter offenders among the Fulbe pastoralist communities.
He believes they should be prosecuted and, if found guilty, punished to the full extent of the law.
"We must assure fairness and seek human capital development to improve the Fulbe pastoralist's education and health and provide him with greater options for self-development in society."
"In addition to skills learning, the Fulbe pastoralists should have access to decent education and healthcare facilities," he stated.
Danbazau, who said the Fulbe pastoralist group has been isolated for a long time, stated the Fulbe pastoralist community's integration into society should be prioritised.
He also advocated for the implementation of the government's National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP), which was approved in 2019 and aims to modernise livestock rearing. This would lay the groundwork for the integration.
"In addition to the UN's Great Green Wall in the Sahel to halt the desert's southerly movement, states and federal governments, as well as the private sector, should generate specific money to develop ranching communities."
Particularly in the wide areas of the northwest and north east, with the required infrastructure to allow pastoralists to permanently settle down.
"After all, the government has been supporting agriculture, particularly for farmers, and livestock production should be part of the government's revenue-generating efforts," he said.
Speaking on the difficulty of Fulbe pastoralists, the former minister stated that the conference was an attempt to investigate the pastoralists' plight in light of Nigeria's instability.
"It is important to emphasise that the current issues that Fulbe pastoralists face are numerous and complex."
According to him, the Fulbe ethnic group is noted for practising pastoralism not just as a source of income but also as a way of life, mostly as nomadic and semi-settled pastoralists throughout the country's numerous woods.
The Fulbe pastoralist was in a pickle, he claimed, because his herd of cattle had vanished owing to cattle rustling, conflicts, or the effects of climate change, which had resulted in dryness and drought.
Another problem, he claimed, was that the organisation was still hiding in the woods because of the emerging illegal trade of banditry and kidnapping for ransom, in which many of its youth are involved.
"While he was once clearly distinguished by his stick, which he used to regulate the movement of his cattle, today he is recognised by the AK47 and other light weapons he employs to attack rural towns and ambush passengers and vehicles driving on highways."
"The Fulbe pastoralist was recognised as a bandit, murderer, rapist, cattle rustler, and kidnapper, but today he is perceived as a bandit, murderer, rapist, and kidnapper," he stated.
As a result, he urged for a determined effort to address the country's current issues for Fulbe pastoralists.
He claimed that this was the only way to keep the country and the region at peace.
Dr Muhammad Abubakar, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, stated that President Muhammadu Buhari is concerned about the issues of livestock development in the country.
Abubakar stated that the Federal Government was well aware of the subsector's security and other difficulties and was eager to do all possible to fix them.
According to the minister, the Federal Government has granted a large sum of money for the retracing and reclamation of grazing reserves across the country.
He stated that the government was eager to put a stop to the current wave of insecurity in the livestock industry.
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