Fulani herdsmen from Chad, Niger will also benefit from FG livestock plan - Bauchi governor
- Governor Bala Mohammed said foreign herdsmen will be involved in the new federal government livestock scheme
- The Bauchi governor noted that Fulani herdsmen were scattered around the continent
- According to the governor, herdsmen from Niger and Bauchi are already accommodated in his state
Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state has said that foreign Fulani herdsmen particularly from Niger and Chad will benefit from the new federal government National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP).
The governor said this on Monday, September 16, while speaking about federal government's plan on Channels TV.
Mohammed explained that Fulani herdsmen are nomadic and so move from country to country.
He said: “I think there is a lot of mistrust and misconception as regards the Fulani man. The Fulani man is a global or African person. He moves from The Gambia to Senegal and his nationality is Fulani."
The governor noted that with Fulani staying in many parts of the continent, it would be inappropriate to stop foreign herdsmen from benefiting from the initiative.
He said: “As a person I may have my relations in Cameroon but they are also Fulani. I am a Fulani man from my maternal side, we will just have to take this as our own heritage, something that is African. So we cannot just close our borders and say the Fulani man is just a Nigerian,” he said.
“In most cases, the crisis is precipitated by those outside Nigeria. When there is a reprisal, it is not the Fulani man within Nigeria that causes it. It is that culture of getting revenge which is embedded in the traditional Fulani man that attracts reprisal.
“They are all Nigerians because their identity, their citizenship is Nigerian even though they have relatives from all over the world. So, presumably they are Nigerians because they move all over and have relations all over. That is why our population in Nigeria is fluid.”
Mohammed said herdsmen from Chad and Niger will be documented so they can be involved in the plan as Bauchi is already accommodating foreign herdsmen.
He said: “We are already accommodating them. Do you delineate and really know who is not a Nigerian Fulani man?
“Yes (they will be documented). This will give Nigeria the opportunity of having proper documentation and knowing the demography because the Fulani man settles anywhere he can feed his cattle.”
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Meanwhile, the controversial Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) policy was dumped by northern governors, following their emergency meeting on Thursday, September 12.
The governors instead adopted the National Livestock Transformation Plan as the best way to tackle the persistent clashes between herders and farmers in the region.
Legit.ng gathers that the governors also resolved that they would continue adopting a sustainable and holistic approach towards tackling the region’s security challenges.
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Nigerian herdsmen vs Nigerian farmers - on Legit TV:
Source: Legit.ng
