Memo to Governor Kashim Shettima
Dear Governor Kashim Shettima, the focus of this epistle will benefit all members of the Northern Governors’ Forum which you chair. As the Chairman, I sincerely hope that you will honestly digest the content and also bring this epistle to the attention of your colleagues. It has always been my dream to see a quick end to the persistent clashes involving nomadic herdsmen and farmers in different communities across our country. These clashes have assumed a frightening dimension under the Buhari administration, resulting in hundreds of deaths on both sides in the last 32 months. I often soak my pillows with tears each time lives are lost during these clashes. Human lives are sacred as ordained by Allah. I am sure that you and your colleagues in the NGF are on the same page with me on this. So, we all should work very hard to preserve these sacred human lives.
Governor Shettima, the truth that must be told is that open grazing and nomadic cattle rearing are aberrations in modern societies. Our great country should not be an exception. It is heart-warming that you are widely travelled. I am sure that you have never come across cattle on the streets of any Western European country or in the United States. Even in some African countries like South Africa, nomadic cattle rearing have long become history. Kenya has also done a lot of work to limit open grazing. Governor Shettima, you surely know this. You and your colleagues assuredly know that nobody should be roaming with cattle in the 21st century. The only way to stop these deadly clashes between farmers and herdsmen is to eliminate direct contact with the farmers. Nomadic cattle rearing will make it impossible for this country to preserve sacred human lives. The only way forward is ranching. This simply means farms for cattle and not death sentence for the cows.
For years, herdsmen in Nigeria have resisted change. They are opposed to any attempt to modernise their mode of operation. These herdsmen are ignorantly opposed to ranching. They have to return to their homes and accept change. Things have just got to change. We need a carrot and stick approach here. If they remain recalcitrant, herdsmen must be compelled to return home and accept change. Just few days back, the Chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria in the North-East, Alhaji Mafindi Danburam, was quoted as saying, “open grazing is our culture and you cannot wake up one day and stop me from practising my culture. Cattle colony is not our culture. We have our culture and tradition and we want to maintain it.” Governor Shettima, you and your colleagues must believe in this change and compel herders to accept cattle ranching; members of the NGF must create an enabling environment for this to happen. You have travelled widely and seen modern cattle ranches in developed countries. You and your colleagues can create the same here, with artificial lakes established in such ranches. Industrial boreholes, powered by solar energy, pump uninterrupted water to sustain artificial lakes all year round. This can be done in cattleproducing states.
Herdsmen running down to Southern Nigeria in search of pastures during the dry season are outdated and absolutely unnecessary. Governor Shettima, I know that you are one of the few governors that read books profusely. You must have read about how the late Libyan leader, Muammar Mohammed, turned thousands of miles of desert into arable land. During his time, irrigation systems were established along the Libyan northern coastline and around various inland oases. Also, you must have read about Gaddafi’s “Great Man-Made River.” With this, the former Libyan leader funneled water from underground aquifers, by installing a large number of bore wells throughout the Libyan land. Through this process, big farms were created in hitherto deserts in Libya. The first phase was officially launched at the end of 1991, supplying more than a million cubic meters of fresh water every day from a pipeline that stretches more than 1000 km, from Sirte to Benghazi. The second phase was supplying one million cubic meters of underground water each day to the coastal belt of the country, as well as supplying water to Tripoli. And finally, the third phase offered the organised development of the first phase set-up, and provided Tobruk and other cities close to the coastline with a new underground water supply. The network of concrete pipes (each having a diameter of 4 meters) stretched more than 3500 kilometers. These pipes were hidden beneath the wilderness of the desert to stop vaporization of the water. There were more than 1000 wells, countless sections of concrete pipes, and 250 million cubic meters of excavation. Everything for the project was made in Libya. Nigerian borehole engineers can also install multiple industrial boreholes in the artificial lakes I talked about.
Unfortunately, while working to kill Gaddafi, NATO not only bombed the Great Man-Made River water system and pipelines near Brega, but also eradicated the plant that created the concrete pipes that were used as replacements during repairs. Governor Shettima, you should also read about the Egyptian desert farming programme that aims at drilling 1,300 wells in the desert.
The point I am making with the Libyan and Egyptian examples is that the core northern states can, through a deliberate policy, also turn their dry lands into green lands all year round, which will encourage herdsmen to stay and embrace ranching. If we replicate the Libyan miracle in the Northern states for our herdsmen, there will be hays and water for their cows all year round. Farmers will have water to plant hays all year round and huge agriculture value chain businesses will develop around the ranches. The herdsmen will purchase hays to feed the cows from the farmers, thereby establishing and sustaining a peaceful affinity with farmers. Milk, leather, meat processing and corned beef industries will also spring up around the cattle ranches.
Governor Shettima, ranching is the magic wand that will turn around the economy of Northern Nigeria. This is the truth. Education in this region will also benefit as schools can easily be provided for children of the nomads around the cattle ranches instead of the bogus nomadic education programme being implemented by the federal government. This talk about local cattle not being fit for ranching is false and one of the attempts by herdsmen to frustrate the transformation of their activities. In my native Ikorodu, we have successful ranches with local cows alone. Former governor Gabriel Suswam also has a ranch in Kansio area of Makurdi with predominantly local cows. Governor Shettima, you need to visit this Suswam ranch to convince Fulani herdsmen that local cows can be ranched.
Remarks that the killer herdsmen across our country are mainly from other West African countries are preposterous and should not stop the match towards cattle ranching. Once we put our house in order, these West African herdsmen will be forced to abide by our laws. Governor Borno, may Allah give you and your colleagues the courage to implement policies that will put an end to unnecessary destruction of human lives in our dear country.