Fulani group blames government for farmers/herders crisis

A group named Gan Allah Fulani Development Association of Nigeria (GAFDAN) has urged president Muhammadu Buhari led federal government to grant a comprehensive amnesty programme to all the victims of farmers/herders crisis, which has reduced the pastoralists to unwilling and circumstantial criminals as a result of losses of their entire source of livelihood and survival.

This is contained in a communique issued after the national delegates meeting of the association held in Sultan Bello Mosque conference Hall in Kaduna and signed by the trio of Alhaji Sale Bayari, Alhaji Ibrahim Abdullahi and Alhaji Suleiman Yakubu, the national chairman, national secretary and zonal national vice chairman, South West.

The group identified the gross negligence by the three tiers of Government of over 15 million members of the herders community in the country that has now resulted in many loss of lives and billions of naira, as well as the abandonment of a great segment of the herdsmen and their means of livelihood.

“It is unfortunate that the government has failed to address problems like cattle rustling and kidnapping, that have led to the near national collapse of the animal husbandry or national livestock industry in the country.

” This condition has given birth to restiveness, hopelessness, joblessness, confusion and a state of anomie where nobody knows what is right from wrong. Such situation has led to many unconstitutional enactments and passing into law of draconian, inhuman, restrictive, segregation and divisive anti-grazing laws that have banned otherwise legitimate and lawful means of livelihood of herdsmen.

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” Total bewilderment of lack of any redemptive or palliative support for the herdsmen as fellow Nigerians by the federal government despite the huge losses with rough estimates of about 2500 human lives and about 3.7 million cattle without any compensation or subsidy.”

The group further lamented on the failure of the Government to provide any assistance to the herders as it being done among other agricultural sectors like crop farmers and many others, through Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, (FMARD), Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN and the presidency which also doles out about 84b naira for subsidy on rice farmers another 60b naira for rice flood disaster victims under the Chairmanship of Mr President.

It also condemned the exclusion of her members ( men and women) from almost all the government economic empowerment palliative such as Tradermoni, subsidy, International aids, grants logistics given to other Nigerians in addition to FMARD and CBN which gulp all the 15 percent budget allocation in Agriculture ministry to only crop farmers.

The conference further condemned the involvement of the herdsmen association in the dirty and partisan politics of candidates endorsement as well as outright reckless abuses or condemnation of other candidates. It described the visit to the presidential Villa and press conferences in Abuja to either support or curse other candidates as embarrassing while reminding the members that the two leading candidates are of the same tribe and faith.

Meanwhile, the Gan Allah Fulani Development Association, GADFAN has thrown it’s weight behind restructuring of the country saying, ” in view of the massive problems that have overwhelmed the herders society in the country, we called for and endorsed the agenda of restructuring of the country as well as those that take it as cardinals of principles of their administration agenda.

“We also welcome statement of Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai at the colloquium organised for Bisi Akande in Ibadan where he calls for the restructuring of the country.

“It is the strong view of this meeting that the need to restructure the country is one of the greatest needs and challenges facing Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria today.

“Today the problems of the herdsmen bother on their survival or extinction now more than before”.