The Secretary-General of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Othman Ngelzarma yesterday said some herders are lured into crime due to ignorance and poverty.
Ngelzarma spoke in Kaduna while addressing the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) National Executive Council (NEC) led by Chief Audu Ogbe.
According to him, some of the herders were impoverished due to the stealing of their cattle.
He is of the opinion that to solve the menace, it is imperative to settle the pastoralists within a place and educate them.
Commenting further, the MACBAN leader also revealed that the criminal herders have powerful backers and people who are sympathetic to them.
Ngelzarma said: ‘The merchants take advantage of the ignorance of the young Fulani and their poverty to engage them crime.
‘Crime is everywhere. When you catch criminals, you always get Fulani among the group because of their lack of education, their ignorance, and their poverty.
‘We all see on social media when these herders who are engaged in crime are asked about how much was given to them out of millions collected from their victims, they would say N30,000, N40,000. This is to show that some big merchants are behind this.’
The Miyetti Allah scribe said legitimate herders are now in fear.
‘Most of the Fulani especially in the South are only grazing the cattle for other people; the cattle are not theirs.
‘The Fulani cattle breeders have lost over three million cows to cattle rustling. We sleep as wealthy people with lots of animals, but wake up as poor people due to cattle rustling,’ he said.
Ngelzarma said there was the need ‘to begin to settle the pastoralists in one place because that is the only solution that will take us out of these problems’.
He added: ‘When they get settled in a place, it will become easier for the government to educate them.
‘As it is now, they don’t enjoy anything from the government while they contribute more than most to the government because they supply nutritional needs to the Nigerian population.
‘Lagos alone consumes 6,000 cows daily. Our statistics show us that 250 truckloads of cows enter the Southwest daily.
‘Cattle contributes six per cent of the country’s GDP and if the government wants to settle them, we have the land.
‘We have over 400 grazing reserves in the country but only three are in the Southwest – Oyo, and Ogun. All the other grazing reserves are in the North. Put together, there are about five million hectares.
‘If these can be utilised, it is enough to settle these landless people. The pastoralists are landless. They stay in a place and when development comes they move and leave the place. This is a very big challenge,” the MACBAN leader said.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK