Hopes for an end to cattle theft

The human cost associated with the raids and clashes is immense, because dozens of herders and farmers were killed by the armed attackers. Early this year, the livestock raiders attacked about six farms in a span of one week in Kachia Local Government Area and moved over a hundred cattle, killing one herder. The rustlers […]

The human cost associated with the raids and clashes is immense, because dozens of herders and farmers were killed by the armed attackers.
Early this year, the livestock raiders attacked about six farms in a span of one week in Kachia Local Government Area and moved over a hundred cattle, killing one herder. The rustlers who were between 15 and 20 in number stormed the area in the afternoon, and attacked a herder caring for the cattle belonging to Niyya farms. They hit him with a sharp object on the head and stole about 69 cattle, before they went to the  neighbouring Alaramma farms where they took  away 49 cattle. Within the same period the thieves went to Mai-Doki farms in Dinki village along the Kaduna-Zaria road, where they stole 105 cattle including calves, while at ‘Yar Mani farms in Sabon Birni, the thieves killed a security guard before they carted away  44 cattle.
The thieves attacked herders’ camps in Jere Town and adjoining towns in April this year, where they stole about 203 cattle also in two days. They went to each camp in large numbers with military assault rifles, machetes and sticks. The rustlers wearing face masks told herders at Gidan Kwasau , that after moving away 43 cattle, that they will return in  a few days to abduct women and kill men.
Some of the livestock raiders in Kaduna and neighbouring states  live in the thick forest of Birnin Gwari, according to the Emir, Malam Usman Jibrin Mai-Gwari. Another hiding place of the thieves is said to be the semi-thick forest of Kari village, near the Abuja-Kaduna boundary. One source in Kagarko Local Government Area, said the rustlers recently tricked some herders whose livestock were stolen to the forest and shot them dead. “The thieves sent an emissary to the villages around Jere from where they had moved hundreds of cattle, telling the people that some cows were seen wandering around. Some of the herders went to the area with the intent of recovering their stolen cows, and no sooner their arrival the thieves shot them dead.”
Farmer-pastoralists clashes have been occurring regularly in Kaduna state ,to the extent that entire villages and herders’ camps were displaced. Recently villages belonging to natives and herders’ hamlets were torched by unknown gunmen in Sanga and Kaura Local Government Areas. There are about 410 displaced  families from Kaduna seeking refuge in Bauchi and Nasarawa states ,as a result of the clashes.
Famer-herder clashes in Kaduna tended to take ethnic and religious dimensions ,polarizing rural communities that have existed closely for years.
Several communal security initiatives were adopted to tackle the menace which failed to yield any results. The grazing reserves established by the government for the pastoralists are either not enough, or lack the basic infrastructure that are supposed to be there , including veterinary clinics and schools. They also lacked adequate supply of water, pasture as well as security outfits and local management committees. Farmers specifically in rural areas deliberately encroach on the existing 414 grazing reserves, as well as cattle routes. This is one of the major causes of conflicts between farmers and herders,  some of which have turned violent and claimed hundreds of lives. In Kaduna state some of these violent clashes have metamorphosed into ethnic and religious crisis displacing thousands of families.  
The Regional Director, North-West, Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) Dr. Leo Nyam said there are over 20 million pastoralists in Nigeria facing inadequate pasture or grazing space, adding that to improve the beef and dairy industries, government has to provide adequate value addition activities to traditional herders and small scale farmers.  He also suggested that a livestock census be conducted in Nigeria with a view to improving meat value chain.
As a corollary to the above, the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) Mohammed Sambo Dasuki, recently organized an international conference on security and development challenges of pastoralism in West and Central Africa,  with the theme ‘the role of pastoralists in preventing insurgency and conflicts for sustainable development’ between June 23 and 25 in Kaduna. The conference which was attended by pastoralists and policymakers from Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, was meant to identify the key challenges facing pastoralists and other stakeholders, and their consequences on national security.  It was also meant to achieve synergy among all pastoralists, other stakeholders and security agencies to tackle the menace of terrorism, insurgency, cattle rustling, communal clashes and other threats to national security.
During the conference, the NSA urged government at all levels, traditional rulers, mass media and other relevant institutions to work together in finding solutions to violence saying “peaceful coexistence requires compromises.”          
Minister of Agriculture Dr. Akinwumi Adesina said pastoralists are facing a lot pressure with the increase in population and desertification, adding that the increase in criminality had made livestock production a risky business. He called for regional solutions to the menace of rustling, because most of the cattle raiders have affinity with others in neighbouring countries that often ignore international boundaries. He said the beef industry was adversely affected by the cattle raiders who often attack middlemen along cattle routes , adding that “moving cattle instead of beef can no longer be sustainable.” He suggested the use of GPS tracking devices in monitoring the movement of cattle to enable pastoralists locate the position of any stolen herd.  He also suggested the use of ear tags for identification of livestock. Some of the tags that could use radio frequency may be effective in finding the position of missing herds.  The minister said about 15 million crop farmers were recently registered for easy access to farm inputs, and recommended  that livestock farmers are pastoralists too, can be registered while an individual headcount of livestock be conducted with a view to having comprehensive databank.
Chairman of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) in Kaduna Alhaji Ahmadu Suleiman said the frequency of livestock theft occurred between 2013 and early this year ,adding that thieves attack herders with weapons and often inflict heavy casualties on herders’ camps. He said close to 7,000 cattle were estimated to have been stolen from both from commercial farms and the pastoralists in Kaduna state between October 2013 and March 2014, adding that thousands of herds are being stolen on  a daily basis. He said the Association has been able to recover some stolen cattle after tracing their hoofmarks and  a few thieves were arrested.

Kaduna state Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero said the ongoing ‘aggressive urbanization’ in most parts of the country, has become a major threat, not only to pastoralists but also to farmers, leading to a dangerous struggle for farmlands and grazing fields. The struggle for space between the livestock and crop farmers often lead to conflicts, some of which turn violent.   
“In Kaduna state, we have identified collapse of grazing reserves as the major causative factor  for the conflict situations recorded recently, especially those in the Southern parts of the state. To tackle the situation, the state government has approved the sum of N45 million for rehabilitation, expansion and improvement of existing facilities in grazing reserves, in addition to purchase of drugs for control of animal diseases and rehabilitation of veterinary clinics. This action is aimed at generally upgrading the livestock sub-sector in the state, as well as serve as solution to ending conflicts between Fulani herdsmen and farmers.”
At the end of the conference, recommendations were made and forwarded to both the federal and state governments for action. It was recommend that security agencies should  be proactive in recognizing and addressing security challenges involving pastoralist and farmers, to avoid the manipulation and hijacking of the situation by violent actors which could further exacerbate and worsen the conflicts. The conference suggested the urgent repositioning and establishment of grazing reserves systems, with a view to devising a more participatory development schemes. The federal and state state  governments were also asked to revive and enforce veterinary services, extant rules and regulations of livestock marketing, animal diseases control, livestock census, traceability of animals and human product.   
The conference also suggested cooperation among ECOWAS countries , as well as adherence to all policies regarding pastoralists, animal diseases control mechanisms  and herd movement.