Finding a permanent solution to the Fulani cattle rearers’ menace should not be allowed to shred Nigeria to pieces. The solution, which is ranching, has been suggested many times over but which the Federal Government has continued to ignore it.
Ruga or no Ruga, I think the only sensible way out is to create an “All-Season National Grazing Zone” with irrigation facilities in the North – a region with great land mass that occupies more than 70% of Nigeria’s arable land. It was by this same irrigation scheme that the old North became famous for groundnut pyramids and cotton cultivation – a product that met the needs of all the textile industries in the country then.
Why the neglect of this practice is another matter for the future. if not now. Other people’s homelands cannot be forcibly taken away from them for the Fulanis to do their private business. By settling down in a permanent place, both the rearers and the cattles would live a better, healthier life and also free from trekking thousands of kilometers looking for greener pasture. Miyetti-Allah’s argument that Nigeria belongs to all and therefore free to live and trade anywhere in Nigeria is true and that is how it is supposed to be, but that is only possible in a multi-ethnic society that operates in true love, mutual understanding, peace and unity, where the inalienable rights, customs and traditions of others are obeyed and respected.
It will be unfair to acquire the homelands of people that were once declared “unwanted” in the North in the mid-60s simply because they were non-natives, nicknamed “Yanmirin” (the Igbo) and “Berebe” (the Yoruba). Then, Nigeria was not one but now one because the Fulanis are in need of greener pasture for their cows. The Jos experience, where tenants (settlers) declared themselves as landlords over the indigenes a few years ago, is still fresh in people’s memories. ‘One good turn’, they say ‘deserves another’. This is not a ‘hate speech’ but simply a blunt truth that we must tell ourselves if we sincerely want to live together in love, peace and unity. Unfortunat-ely, here in Nigeria, some people see themselves as ‘specially’ created to lord it over others. God’s plan for Nigeria can only be achieved in an atmosphere of mutual understanding, trust, love, peace, unity, tolerance and respect for the inalienable rights of others, not by coercion, intimidation or whatever.
There is much to be gained from our multifarious cultural, religious and ethnic diversities if our God-given numerous resources are properly harnessed, equitably and faithfully managed in the spirit of true federalism for the benefits of all. To achieve this, our country Nigeria needs dynamic, visionary, truly patriotic and de-tribalised leaders which we have been lacking since independence.
A particular section of the country cannot be forcing its will down the throats of others while the other sections are perpetually denied their own rights and demands.
We must all, therefore, come together and agree to give whatever it will take to ensure that all the efforts of our forefathers – the Azikiwes, the Sardaunas, the Awolowos, the Balewas, etc; are not in vain, but that their dream Nigeria, the pride of the entire black race, already God-blessed and divinely placed to attain glorious heights, is returned to true federalism which was the practice before the military intrusion of 1966.
Williams M. Adeyemi,
Ayetoro-Itele, Ogun State