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Ganduje blames farmers/herder clashes on climate change, institutional weakness
From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar, has warned the federal government that the monetary policy in the country is causing untold hardship to Nigerians.
He cautioned that Nigerians are angry and hungry, and urged government and authorities concerned to urgently do something to douse the tension in the land.
The Sultan spoke in his goodwill message at the National Conference on Livestock Reforms and Mitigation of Associated Conflict, hosted by the Kano State Government in Abuja on Monday.
According to him; “let’s keep politics aside. The issues of development especially for the common man (should be prioritised). These people that God Almighty gave leadership over, one day, God forbid, rise up (against us).
“After all these English by professors, how do we get these developments down to the common man who is a farmer, the common Fulani man who doesn’t know anything about development in his life, he only cares about cattles.
“I have been to Beune at least two times as Sultan to sit with the governors and traditional rulers to discuss peace in the Benue valley. At the end of it, the suggestions, we throw them away. Nothing is done and we are back to square one.
“Let this conference not be in the same manner, let us do it and let us do well and now. The people are hungry – is there money? Akawi kudi? No cash? People are angry and hungry, let’s see how we can douse the tension,” he appealed.
In his keynote address, Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, identified climate change and weakness of state institutions and lack of infrastructure as factors fueling the increasing spate of farmers herder clash in the country.
He explained that the conference was to provide a platform to restrain the movements of cattle, boost livestock production and control the country’s deadly herder-farmer conflicts.
Ganduje noted that for many years in the country, farmers and cattle herders had been in conflict over land rights, emphasising: “But the disputes have reached crisis levels in recent years, killing thousands of people and displacing many thousands more from their homes left in relics by attacks.
“The livelihoods of farmers and herders have, historically complemented each other. They exchanged produce with one another and when conflicts arose, they were addressed by traditional institutions and existing conflict resolution mechanisms.
“However, over the past few decades, a wide range of factors have resulted in tensions often ending in deadly violent conflicts between the two groups,” Ganduje lamented.
Blaming such factors on climate change which resulted in desertification, Ganduje said, he had pushed herders to venture into new areas to seek pasture for their herds.
“Drifting away from traditional migratory routes and encroaching on farming lands has fueled negative perceptions, contrasting sedentary communities versus nomadic ones often stigmatising the latter as cultural and or religious intruders.
“The climate change shrinks the amount of arable land, which is contributing to cycles of violence and putting additional strain on relationships among farmers and herders.
“While herders have had to change their transhumance routes along which they move cattle from one grazing ground to another on a seasonal basis. Farmers, on the other hand, say herders are intruding on their land,” the Kano State governor said.
