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Why Farmers-Herders Crisis Still Persists In Nigeria – El-Rufai
Nasir El-Rufai, governor of Kaduna, says farmers-herders crisis still persists in Nigeria because the migratory and itinerant cattle rearing method is still practised in the country.
Speaking at an expanded meeting of the state security council on Tuesday, El-Rufai said transhumance has become an archaic practice due to urbanization and population growth.
On religious leader meeting with criminal elements, the governor said clerics are free to meet with bandits as a private citizen but his government will not negotiate with bandits and Kidnappers.
Bandits have continued to wreak havoc on Kaduna communities in recent weeks, they have attacked education centres and abducted students.
On Monday, gunmen stormed a UBE primary school at Rama in Birnin-Gwari LGA, kidnapping some teachers.
In the wake of bandits’ attacks on several northern states, Ahmad Gumi, a prominent Islamic cleric, had mediating between the bandits and ggovernment.
He’s asked the government to grant the bandits amnesty, saying they are victims of circumstance..
However, El-Rufai said his job as governor is to enforce the law and help prosecute people who commit offences, and not negotiate with bandits.
Governor Nasir El-Rufai
“We will not engage with bandits or kidnappers. Private citizens like clerics and clergymen can do so in their individual capacities, to preach to them and ask them to repent. We also want them to repent but it is not our job to ask them to do so,” he said.
The governor said the best way to solve the farmer-herder clashes, cattle rustling, and banditry “is for nomadic herdsmen to live more sedentary lives in order for them to be more productive and give their children education and access to better healthcare”.
He said the state government is implementing a ranching project in Damau Grazing Reserve, Kubau LGA.
The governor noted that the project will enable the herders to raise their cattle in a facility with pastures, a school, and a primary healthcare centre, with a commercial partner ready to buy their milk.
The expanded security council meeting was attended by traditional rulers, religious leaders, professional associations, trade unions, and civil society groups.
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