One question has bothered me since the talk about RUGA began: How much will the Cattle herder pay to use the government-financed ranches to further his very own private business of animal husbandry?

I have scoured speeches upon speeches, government plans upon government plans, newspaper reports after another and an endless number of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development press statements to espy that special information, but unfortunately, I never could find it.

Perhaps I need to explain myself. All I have heard is the Federal and some state governments are at various stages of establishing ranches at the expense of the tax-payer to help develop the most private and so for-profit businesses of those in the cattle husbandry.

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I have not heard what profit should accrue to the government for its efforts and investment funds. I must concede that I have heard that such would bring about peace in the relationship between the farmers and the herders as the herders would stay within the boundaries of the government -provided ranches and so would no longer lead their animals into the farms owned by the farmers.

Apart from everything else, this shows who is the aggressor in that long-running battle. And it also leaves one giant question unanswered: Why the state remained totally helpless in getting the law to give redress to the farmer by reining in the herders and also punishing those who led their cattle into farmlands and thereby ruining the farms.

A few germane questions have also propped up from my readings about the suitability of the government-provided ranches to peace in the country.

For instance, for how long would the government-provided ranches remain free? Forever? Does it really mean that if in ten years’ time, a bore hole dug this year at Government expense to provide water for the benefit of the cattle-herder and his herd ran into a hitch, the Government of this same country called Nigeria would be expected to repair the same water bore-hole? And when it has been repaired at the expense of the tax-payer, will it still be providing water for the herders, gratis?

If so, why?

Is cattle husbandry no-longer a private business? And for how long would every Nigerian, including the farmers and petty traders go on subsiding the owners of herds of cattle in Nigeria?

And why is it that the chicken farmer, the yam tuber farmer, the cassava farmer, the vegetable farmer, etc, is expected to provide his or her own farm at an expense personal to them, but with the herder the story becomes different?

Why couldn’t the government provide affordable loans to cattle herders to set up their own ranches? And if Nigeria has suddenly decided to go socialist or communist why should such a change begin and end with cattle herding?

Or what would happen when the ranches being provided today begin to become over-crowded in two decades? Would the country be expected by then to reach into the public purse and dish out more cash to gratify the new needs of by then would-be emerging cattle-herders? And how would this go on ad-infinitum, and at public expense?

And as we have been told that there is no way of knowing how many cattle herders are Nigerians and that the Fulani cattle herders do not recognize the artificial boundaries which differentiate one country from another, and so more and more nobly minded Africanists begin to train their sights on Nigeria (from Mauritania to the Congo and the Sudan and Somalia) will Nigeria be able to cope?         

Well, on December 20, 2019, a near answer came in the form of a news item in that day’s edition of The Leadership newspaper. Title; “Livestock Plan Promises Solution To Herder-farmer Clashes”. It was written by  Adegwu John.

Here we go: “The pilot implementation of the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) has shown promising results in federal government efforts to end the lethal conflict between farmers and herders.

“It is estimated that the plan, which aims to have at least 119 modern ranches operating in all participating states by 2028, will create more than 2million jobs in the livestock production, processing and marketing chains as pastoralists will be persuaded to move their cattle into ranches and public grazing reserves.

In an interview with LEADERSHIP, Umar Abubakar, herder and owner of 50 cows in one of the pilot schemes, Sheyi Grazing Reserve in Niger State expressed delight over the peaceful co-existence between them and farmers since the commencement of activities in the reserve.

“With one hundred beneficiaries for the off take of the scheme, the three-hectares modernised ranch at Sheyi Grazing Reserve has a solar powered borehole, perimeter chain-link fence, two hectares of pasture, irrigation facilities and accommodation for extension workers, training shed, hay barn, crush and pasture development and is expected to serve as a hub for the production of improved feed for livestock.

“While the Kaduna pilot ranch sits on nine-hectares of land with the same attendant benefits and in addition, a capacity training for farmers and herders on the good practices for optimal livestock production.

“A farmer and a member of the host community to the ranch, Salamatu John who spoke to LEADERSHIP also said she benefited from the grazing reserve by selling crop residue, cassava peels and other alternative feed”.

Unfortunately, the Reporter, Mr. Adegwu John did not ask Salamatu John why her own farm is not government-sponsored and neither did he ask the herders why the government owes them any sustenance while other Nigerian farmers are on their own.

He and his newspaper have accepted the situation as the best for Nigeria – to sustain the monetary needs of providing farms for some people and not doing the same for some less fortunate others.

And the world thought the apartheid system ended with the Black emancipation in South Africa!  But if the story is different, then both Mr Adegwu and his newspaper need to revisit that obviously faulty story and apologise for misleading Nigerians.

Vanguard News Nigeria