FORESTS were created by God to be source of wealth, food and medicine for mankind. In Genesis 1:29 AMP, God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of the entire earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you”. This is why the forest needs to be protected and preserved for the benefit of all mankind. Unfor- tunately, in Nigeria, the forests have become a source of blood and tears for the citizens as terrorists, insurgents, cultists, bandits, robbers, kidnappers, rapists, use them as launch pads to make the lives of Nigerians most miserable. Before the advent of those vices, the nomadic Fulani Herdsmen were known to have been inhabiting the forests with their herds and were living peacefully with their host communities. In those days, there were forests reserved for cattle rearing and grazing routes through which the Herdsmen pass without encroaching on the lands of the crop farmers. The incidences of farmers-herders clashes were minimal.
As a result of the gradual increase in population and urban development, the rural areas, forest reserves and routes for grazing gradually started diminishing and disappearing. Of course, human beings must always take precedence in urban and regional planning before animals. As those reserves were depleting, the tension be- tween the farmers and herdsmen kept growing and was managed well through dialogue and mutual understanding. However, when modern terrorism descended on Nigeria in 2009 and the terrorists went into the forests and displaced the Fulani Herdsmen, subduing and co-opting some of them, and unleashing a brand of criminal at- tacks on the Nigerian communities, from North to South, the relationship between the herdsmen and their host communities soured so much that the continual attacks by these terrorists and bandits is now constituting a national security threat which requires urgent solutions.
The Fulani must be in the fore front of the solution to these crises. The first approach to this solution should be the approach of our traditional African way of rearing up our children. It is true that Allah gives children, but it is also true that Allah wants every parent to take care of his children. In the scriptures, God said that any parent that cannot take care of his family is worse than an infidel. It is no longer wise for any parent to give birth and surrender his child to some self acclaimed religious teachers who turn them to beggers on the road or brainwash them to become terrorists. They will be denied modern education techniques by these teachers thereby building the foundation for illiteracy and poverty making them potential recruitment tools for terrorists. Every child is entitled to the love, warmth, tender care, education and upbringing by his parents. The State must intervene to as-
sist children who, out of no fault of theirs, lost their parents before maturity. The State should take firm actions against these teachers who take advantage of these children and send the affected children back to their parents. Firm actions should also be taken against parents and customs that support such practice. Such custom and system should be abolished or modified.
Another African method of bringing up children lies in the community disciplining of children. When I was a child, my mother took me to school and told my teacher in front of me to punish me severely if I flouted any law of the school. It worked because all she has heard about me has been a story of excellence till date. Indeed, University of Nigeria awarded me with a certificate for academic excellence when I came first in the Faculty of Business Administration in the 1985/86 academic session. It was President Buhari, a Nigeria Head of State from Fulani Land, who in 1994 made a law in Nige- ria, prescribing death penalty for armed robbery and decreed that whoever is found guilty should be executed in his own village in front of his kindred. It worked like magic. No youth then want- ed to bring such shame upon his family. The Fulani need to rise up and do same. They should disassociate their tribe and religion openly from this brand of terrorism and decline to make any comment that could lead to an insinuation that they are shielding or supporting these terrorists, bandits or criminals. They should dialogue with State governments of other federating units and publicly urge those State governments, in front of their tribesmen resident in those states, to punish severely any of their own caught committing any crime. Above all, they should as a matter of urgency, support the creation of state police to enable them police their own states effectively and cooperate with the state police of the other federating units in combating this scourge. It is easier to deal with governments than to deal with outlaws. It is certainly easier to deal with a State police under Seyi Makinde than to deal with a Sunday Igboho with his army
of mobs. Truth is that as long as the country is not effectively policed, Igbohos of this world will be springing up from time to time. They are simply trying to fill up a security gap in the polity. The Fulani should go beyond the terrorists in the forests and dig out the sponsors and accomplices of these terrorists. They are the reason why this scourge has not end- ed. If they are not Fulani, they will be vindicated, if they are Fulani, they should give them the “decree” treatment to preserve their
major city today. Even if there were no terrorism, nomadic grazing would still come to an end one day because the idea of allowing herds to pass through cities, defecating on the road and on public facilities, posing traffic, hygiene and other health challenges, is incompatible with the tenets of a modern state. One cannot imagine passing through the streets of London, Paris, Washington and stumble into herds of cattle competing with human beings for right of way in those cities and defecating along the streets, waterways and other infrastructures. So ranching in the first instance is a consequence of a modernized society hoping to make their cities clean and attractive for investment and tourism for the outside world.
The need to educate the children of these nomads in this world infested with terrorism has become very urgent and immediate. We know for a fact that terrorists recruit more easily persons who are poor and not lettered. The Fulanis should be more concerned in this regard because these nomadic children who are being recruited now along the forest highways by these terrorists will come back one day to haunt the Fulani nation. Quartering these children in ranches will assist in their education as all the previous ar rangements to educate them, including nomadic education, failed in the past. Also, ranching will deny the terrorists the cover they operate under. When the herdsmen embrace ranching, whoever is found in the forest wielding AK 47, by whatever guise or name, launching attacks on communities will be treated as a terrorist and bandit without hesitation and taken out.
Ranching will increase the nutritional value of our herds and improve the health of the herdsmen. It has been proven that the excess trekking of our herds and the herdsmen under our harsh climate, especially in this era of climate change, impacts negatively on the nutritional value of our herds and life expectancy of the herdsmen. Only the skin of the animals is the most cherished product in our herds as the hide from their skin is reputed to be the strongest due to the toughening by the sun. The lives of the herdsmen themselves are better preserved and secured by ranching. In this era of mutual hostility between the herdsmen and their host communities, no amount of security can protect the lives of the herdsmen who trek through forests, mostly individually or by families with their herds, against the anger of a rampaging host community reeling from the pains of a terrorist attack by men they mistake or suspect to be Fulani Herdsmen. The Fulanis should consider the danger imposed on these innocent herdsmen who are in the bushes, oblivious of the animosity against them, during the regime of a non Fulani in Nigeria. The time to act is now and only the people that love you will tell you this.
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sist children who, out of no fault of theirs, lost their parents before maturity. The State should take firm actions against these teachers who take advantage of these children and send the affected children back to their parents. Firm actions should also be taken against parents and customs that support such practice. Such custom and system should be abolished or modified.
Another African method of bringing up children lies in the community disciplining of children. When I was a child, my mother took me to school and told my teacher in front of me to punish me severely if I flouted any law of the school. It worked because all she has heard about me has been a story of excellence till date. Indeed, University of Nigeria awarded me with a certificate for academic excellence when I came first in the Faculty of Business Administration in the 1985/86 academic session. It was President Buhari, a Nigeria Head of State from Fulani Land, who in 1994 made a law in Nige- ria, prescribing death penalty for armed robbery and decreed that whoever is found guilty should be executed in his own village in front of his kindred. It worked like magic. No youth then want- ed to bring such shame upon his family. The Fulani need to rise up and do same. They should disassociate their tribe and religion openly from this brand of terrorism and decline to make any comment that could lead to an insinuation that they are shielding or supporting these terrorists, bandits or criminals. They should dialogue with State governments of other federating units and publicly urge those State governments, in front of their tribesmen resident in those states, to punish severely any of their own caught committing any crime. Above all, they should as a matter of urgency, support the creation of state police to enable them police their own states effectively and cooperate with the state police of the other federating units in combating this scourge. It is easier to deal with governments than to deal with outlaws. It is certainly easier to deal with State police under Seyi Makinde than to deal with a Sunday Igboho with his army
nation from extinction and prevent their name and reputation from being dragged to the mud. The initial suspicion that some herdsmen carry firearms in pretext of defending their herds was confirmed by the Sultan of Sokoto who said that bandits parade public places in the North with AK 47s declaring North the worst place to be in terms of security.
We must note that the fundamental human right of Nigerians to move about freely and reside in any part of Nigeria does not include the right to move around freely with animals in any part of Nigeria. The movement of animals have always been restricted. A lot of people are not aware that herds are classified as harmful in modern society. While animals like dogs are restricted because they are harmful to lives of the citizens, animals like cows, goats and sheep are restricted because they are harmful to livelihoods. Nigerians, particularly the Northerners, are mostly farmers and the idea of allowing herdsmen to freely shepherd their livestock into people’s farms to eat up their crops and bring about clashes between the farmers and herdsmen is no longer acceptable in modern societies. Something has to give. The owners are not only guilty of trespass but are vicariously liable for the damages of the crops of the farmers and may be liable for prosecution in addition to civil liabilities in damages. Cattle rearing is a private business just as crop cultivation and none can take precedence over the other. Both rights should be protected.
The immediate solution to this scourge is ranching. Nomadic cattle rearing involves trekking from one place to another in search of greener pastures. This method suits the ancient world, where forests were in abundance and boundaries not clearly delineated among nations. Farming was the main occupation of the people then and modern nations/countries with sophisticated major cities were not born. People were morally upright and terrorism was not on the card. Today, the case is different. Modern cities have emerged. There is hardly any ancient grazing route in Nigeria that does not cross a major city today. Even if there were no terrorism, nomadic grazing would still come to an end one day because the idea of allowing herds to pass through cities, defecating on the road and on public facilities, posing traffic, hygiene and other health challenges, is incompatible with the tenets of a modern state. One cannot imagine passing through the streets of London, Paris, Washington and stumble into herds of cattle competing with human beings for right of way in those cities and defecating along the streets, waterways and other infrastructures. So ranching in the first instance is a consequence of a modernized society hoping to make their cities clean and attractive for investment and tourism for the outside world.
The need to educate the children of these nomads in this world infested with terrorism has become very urgent and immediate. We know for a fact that terrorists recruit more easily persons who are poor and not lettered. The Fulanis should be more concerned in this regard because these nomadic children who are being recruited now along the forest highways by these terrorists will come back one day to haunt the Fulani nation. Quartering these children in ranches will assist in their education as all the previous ar rangements to educate them, including nomadic education, failed in the past. Also, ranching will deny the terrorists the cover they operate under. When the herdsmen embrace ranching, whoever is found in the forest wielding AK 47, by whatever guise or name, launching attacks on communities will be treated as a terrorist and bandit without hesitation and taken out.
Ranching will increase the nutritional value of our herds and improve the health of the herdsmen. It has been proven that the excess trekking of our herds and the herdsmen under our harsh climate, especially in this era of climate change, impacts negatively on the nutritional value of our herds and life expectancy of the herdsmen. Only the skin of the animals is the most cherished product in our herds as the hide from their skin is reputed to be the strongest due to the toughening by the sun. The lives of the herdsmen themselves are better preserved and secured by ranching. In this era of mutual hostility between the herdsmen and their host communities, no amount of security can protect the lives of the herdsmen who trek through forests, mostly individually or by families with their herds, against the anger of a rampaging host community reeling from the pains of a terrorist attack by men they mistake or suspect to be Fulani Herdsmen. The Fulanis should consider the danger imposed on these innocent herdsmen who are in the bushes, oblivious of the animosity against them, during the regime of a non Fulani in Nigeria. The time to act is now and only the people that love you will tell you this.