Solution to the Fulani question

The Fulani question is simply the demonisation of the roving Fulbe tribesmen as “bloodthirsty terrorists.” This label does them no good  and the label has put a bull’s eye on their children’s children. There is a straightforward solution to the Fulani question, though: all roving cattlemen should be quartered in ranch homesteads. Because of environmental concerns, the practice of free-ranging for millions of cattle should be discouraged. It is especially bad because there aren’t really “free” ranges out there for the Fulani to roam in. Nearly every patch of pasture-friendly land is tied indeed to one active rural community or the other.

The Federal Government should inaugurate a “ranch-homestead” policy whereby these roaming pastoralists would be settled for good as ranch owners in the vast expanses of land in the sparsely-populated states of Northern Nigeria. Ranch-raised cattle is healthier and better fattened, and this means improved income for the Fulani; a big drawback with free-ranging is that all the accumulated calories that should help a herd of cattle get fattened are burned up as these cattle move from place to place. In essence, they become good examples of moos with much sinews and musculature not especially suited for consumption.

The “ranch-homestead” policy would result in a win-win economic situation because fodder for cattle could be easily and cheaply grown by the long-established inhabitants in the very areas where the Fulani are presently involved in ethnic cleansing, and the ensuing hay trade would benefit all. The worry here is that, if this “ranch-homestead” policy is not adopted soon, the Fulani would sooner or later lose out because the realities of the 21st century heavily discourage ethnic cleansing in whatever guise it is perpetrated. The present composition of the Nigerian state is so complex that it is inconceivable that a particular tribal group would just run wild, sack and occupy communities in the manners of the Amalekites and Amorites. There are useful lessons to learn from the partitioning of Sudan.

The geological province called “Sokoto Basin” provides the natural choice for the location of cattle ranches because, by virtue of its sedimentary character, boreholes sunk there for groundwater exploitation should be comparatively shallow-depth and high-yielding. What is desired now more than ever before is a National Ranch Homestead Commission, and not a National Grazing Reserve Commission. It takes about 3.5 kilogrammes of silage a day to fatten a cow kept in a ranch; considering that each ranch would be provided with a borehole, producing this amount of silage is no challenge at all.

Really, this task would be a great opportunity for agricultural engineers and animal production scientists in my school, the Federal University of Technology, Minna, and all other Federal Universities of Technology and agricultural research institutes across Nigeria. Opportunities would abound for the dairy industry to blossom around cattle ranches. Opportunities would also abound for veterinary doctors to practice out there “in the field.”  The haymaking industries would take a lot of almajiris off the streets.

Sunday Jonah

Federal University of Technology, Minna