Penultimate weekend, the Federal Government and stakeholders in the livestock breeding sector met in Abuja to look for ways of keeping cows off the Abuja metropolitan area. The intractable problem of cows roaming the streets of our Federal Capital Territory is attributable to the weak political will on the part of the Government to stop it.

Those at the meeting included Minister of Livestock Development, Idi Mukhtar Maiha; Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Nomadic Education, NCNE, Bashir Usman; and presidential aide, Idris Abiola Ajimobi. Also, Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III who is also the Chairman, Board of Directors of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN, led other prominent stakeholders in the industry to the meeting.

The root cause of the continued roaming of Abuja streets by livestock and their pastoralists is that what is now our Capital City was once a grazing area. Unfortunately, as the city developed in leaps and bounds, next to nothing was done about livestock grazing activities around Abuja.

Everyday, herds of cattle shamble through streets and highways, slowing down the traffic, soiling the well-paved roads, constituting potential danger to motorists and road users and giving Nigeria the image of a primitive country in the eyes of the world.

It is notable that even our toughest Abuja Ministers, such as Nasir el-Rufai and Nyesom Wike, who were strict in clearing anything that did not comply with the Abuja Master-plan, such as markets, housing estates and structures, were unable to do anything about the roaming cows. Does it mean that the Master-plan accommodates roaming livestock?

Livestock owners are among the biggest sources of insecurity in the country. They do not see themselves as subject to the laws of Nigeria and those of its federating units. The MACBAN and its cousin, Miyetti Allah Kyautal Hore, MAKH, obstinately defy open grazing laws in the states they operate. They justify the terrorist and land-grabbing activities of armed herdsmen all over the country.

The Federal Government has never even officially identified the armed herdsmen terrorism as a crime of insecurity to be tackled with the might of the country. Rather, their attacks on hapless farming communities are profiled as “farmers-herders clashes”.

On July 9, 2025, President Bola Tinubu announced the establishment of the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development, FMLD, and appointed a Minister. He has also unfolded plans for the modernisation and development just to appease the sector’s stakeholders.

Livestock must be kept out of Abuja and our major cities. Livestock owners should be encouraged to acquire lands and build ranches for their livestock. Cattle breeding is a big business, and any Nigerian needing to invest in it should be likewise encouraged. Nomadic cattle rearing must end.

It is a major source of terrorism in Nigeria.