MACBAN Accuses Buhari of Abandoning Nigerian Pastoralists After 2019 Elections
- MACBAN has accused President Buhari of abandoning Nigerian pastoralists since he won the 2019 presidential election
- Baba Ngelzarma, the newly sworn-in national president of the association, made the claim during an interaction with journalists
- The association, one of Nigeria's most significant trade groups, endorsed incumbent Nigerian leader Buhari weeks before the 2019 presidential contest
FCT, Abuja - The national president of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Baba Ngelzarma has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of abandoning pastoralists in the country despite their support for him in the 2019 presidential election.
Ngelzarma, former national secretary of the association who was recently elected president, made the allegation on Saturday night, December 17, in a chat with journalists, including a Legit.ng reporter in Abuja.
Source: Original
His words:
"On the eve of the last election that brought in Buhari for the second term, we endorsed him. We showed the world that we are with him but thereafter, up till now as I speak to you, nothing has been done.
PAY ATTENTION: Follow us on Instagram - get the most important news directly in your favourite app!
"Buhari has abandoned the pastoralists. This is very clear, whether Buhari or his lieutenants, the pastoralists have been abandoned by the government. In the last eight years, while over N500 billion was spent on agronomy, nothing was spent on livestock, almost nothing.
"Go and check all the state government's budgetary provisions including the federal government's budgetary provisions. If you see what is budgeted for livestock, you will be surprised. Livestock is being neglected completely."
Ngelzarma lamented that while vast sums of money have been voted for the development of agriculture in the country, little or nothing has been earmarked for animal husbandry.
He said though the association is happy about the National Livestock Transformation Plan initiated by the Buhari administration, it would do little or nothing to address the problems of pastoralists.
Flanked by some members of MACBAN exco, including Bello Aliyu Gotomo, national secretary and financial secretary, Arc. Idris Bawa, Ngelzarma said pastoralists are not embracing ranching because it is alien to them, adding that the lack of education is making the problem worse.
He said:
"Whatever mode of ranching that is being introduced into this country, these guys would hardly embrace it, the reason is it is alien to them as it is not capturing the reason they are rearing their cows. They are mostly illiterates and would resist any changes in ranching.''
He noted that the colonialists observed the trend, which prompted them to set up grazing reserves across the country.
His words:
"There are 415 grazing reserves in the country, mostly located in the north...only three located in the south.''
He, however, stated that successive governments had not maintained the reserves and now have dilapidated infrastructures, dams, veterinary clinics and nomadic schools.
How kidnapping, and banditry became a national problem - Ngelzarma
Explaining the rise of abduction and banditry by mostly Fulani youths who are former pastoralists, he said:
''What we have been experiencing before now, in 2013 and 2014, was the issue of farmers/herders conflicts, because it was not handled very well, it became cattle rustling and started in Benue by that criminal called Gana.
''When they grew in sophistication, they metamorphosed into kidnapping because of the quick liquid cash they can get. While cattle rustling was going on, kidnapping was also going on.
''Now, if a herder sleeps a rich man with hundred of millions of herds and wake up a poor man because his cattle has been rustled, what do you think he will become? They say an idle mind is the devil's workshop, so they became easy prey for kidnap merchants.
''That is why when a gang of kidnappers are caught, about five of them are usually Fulani. And because they have no option, no education, no other business. So, the more cows are taken from pastoralists the more criminals we will have.
''From there, we began to experience banditry. It began in Katsina and Zamfara, when the state governments set up vigilante groups.
''Because the vigilante members are mostly Hausas, it became a tribal issue as the Fulani hamlets are always attacked, their wives and cows taken away, the pastoralists then set up a resistance group to resist the vigilantes.
''Now, criminals have infiltrated both groups, so we now have now banditry taking place across the country.''
He reiterated that MACBAN is a trade group, because the cattle rearers are doing business like any other business in the country.
He added:
''It is a business and a way of life. Other than other businesses, this one is a source of livelihood and a cultural way of life.''
Ngelzarma said as president; he has already unveiled a four-point national agenda as a panacea to the age-long farmer-herder clashes in the country.
He said his administration would pursue the national agenda under the acronym CORE: Consultations, Orientation, Reintegration and Empowerment.
He added that as president, one of his goals is to orient pastoralists to see the need to have an education and embrace ranching, as well as engage with governments at all levels to provide the necessary intervention.
Dambazau calls for cleanup of weapons, drugs among Fulani youths
Recall that a former minister of interior, Lt-Gen Abdulrahman Dambazau, recently called for an urgent cleanup of firearms and drugs among the Fulani youth as part of practical solutions to the ugly trend of kidnapping in the country.
Dambazau made the call in his paper, titled "Dilemma of the Fulbe pastoralist," presented at the Pastoralists and Fulbe Security Conference in Abuja.
According to him, one of the steps should be blocking access to weapons and cleaning up all the guns already in circulation within the Fulbe pastoralist youth environment.
Southeast MACBAN begs CBN to extend naira deposits
Meanwhile, the southeast MACBAN has requested that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) extend the deadline for depositing old currency notes in commercial banks by three months.
Alhaji Gidado Siddiki, the leader of the association in the region, made the plea in an interview in Awka on Thursday, November 17.
Siddiki said the extension of time would enable his members, who majorly lived in the forests and bushes due to their nomadic life, to bring out their savings in exchange for the redesigned naira notes and avoid them losing their money.
Source: Legit.ng
