Kulen Allah Cattle Rearers Association of Nigeria (KACRAN), a Fulani group, has raised 11 points as conditions for the restoration of peace and stability in northern Nigeria and called for the implementation of these points for a prosperous country.
A statement issued Wednesday in Damaturu by the National President of the association, Khalil Mohammed Bello, said the continued escalation of violence in the north was as a result of the failure of state governors to develop and harness the abundant natural and human resources endowments of their respective states.
The National President recalled that the wave of insecurity became more alarming in Nigeria and north in particular when armed robbery, kidnapping, armed banditry as well as terrorism started rearing their ugly heads at different points in time in the national life.
He added that all these culminated in the present reality that is characterised by pervasive security challenges rocking the northern region and parts of the country.
“The worse of all, is what is going on currently where the problems of Boko Haram, cattle rustling, human kidnapping, serious conflict between cattle rearers and farmers and religion crisis become order of the day in almost all parts of the Northern Nigeria which are some times extended to Southern part of the country, more especially the conflicts or crisis between Herders and their host communities,” Bello noted.
The Fulani association, therefore, suggested that for peace to be sustained in north and other parts of the country, there is urgent need for the 19 northern governors to: guarantee the security of the nomads and their livestock, establish special schools for the nomads, preserve and develop grazing reserves.
Others issues raised by the association that could lead to lasting peace in the region include: establishment of functional of veterinary for livestock services, funding of annual mass animal vaccination, provision and distribution of livestock feeds as well as provision of water in nomads’ settlements among others.
The pre-conditions for peace as enumerated by the Fulani Association’s National President Khalil Mohammed Bello are as follows:
1. Security for the Nomads and their livestock across the Nooks and crannies of the entire Northern States.
2. Special Schools For the Nomads.
3. Total preservation and development of grazing reserves across the Northern States of the Federation.
4. Establishment of functional veterinary and livestock services with personnel trained to teach Pastoralists modern livestock practices.
5. Fund adequately annual or retune animals vaccination services.
6. Support Nomads with livestock feed enduring the Lean month of March to June.
7. Provide all Nomads settlement across the North with portable water for human and livestock consumption.
8. Building the capacity of young Pastoralists of modern and lucrative/profitable livestock rearing to prevent them from engaging in a criminal act of human kidnapping.
9. Introduction of massive empowerment program for the pastoralists especially those who no longer own livestock as an alternative source of living.
10. Re-demarcation of all cattle routes that were not blocked as a result of executing developmental projects to prevent herders from destroying farmers’ farms.
11. Making peace and dialogue between the aggrieved parties across the Northern States.
“We wish to emphasize, that the above are some of the measures that KACRAN is of the strong view that, if properly and judiciously taken by our humbled Northern governors, peace and harmony would be restored in the entire Northern region and our beloved Country Nigeria, as well as enhancing our Nation’s economic potentialities,” the association insisted.